The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has cited a Northborough construction company and its president for nearly $750,000 for violating several state worker protection laws, the attorney general’s office announced Thursday.
Franca Service, Inc. and its president, David Franca, have been cited for failing to pay employees proper overtime rates, misclassifying 101 employees as independent contractors, not having an earned sick time policy and failing to maintain accurate employee payroll records, the attorney general’s office said in a press release. The citations total over $740,000 and include both civil penalties and restitution for 101 impacted workers.
Franca Service did not respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
“When employers violate our laws, including by failing to make timely wage payments, the economic security of workers and their families is unfairly put at risk,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in the release. “My office will continue to enforce our laws to protect and empower workers, reminding employers that Massachusetts is serious about protecting workers’ rights.”
The attorney general’s office began investigating Franca Service after receiving a complaint referral from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 (IUPAT DC 35), the attorney general’s office said.
“This is a tremendous victory for working people. The brave workers who came forward helped expose a company that was cheating more than 100 men and women out of the wages and protections they were legally owed,” Jorge Rivera, IUPAT DC 35’s director of organizing, said in the release.
The attorney general’s office encourages Massachusetts workers who believe their workplace rights may have been violated to file a complaint with its Fair Labor Division at mass.gov/ago/fld.
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