Washington Lawyers’ Committee and Murphy Anderson Announce Lawsuit Against Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Centerline Construction Company, and Congratulations Construction for Alleged Wage Theft Construction Workers Scheme
WASHINGTON, DC – The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and co-counsel Murphy Anderson PLLC today announce a wage theft lawsuit on behalf of a group of Latino construction workers who built a long-awaited regional cancer center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Prince George’s County. The lawsuit alleges that Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, one of the largest US construction companies, and its subcontractors Centerline Construction Company, and Congratulations Construction, Inc. systematically underpaid their workers in violation of Maryland and federal laws.
“It is unacceptable that a highly anticipated public cancer center is built with the labor of Maryland workers who have been cheated of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages,” said Joanna Wasik, supervising counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and co-counsel for the employees. “These public works funds were earmarked for the fair compensation of Maryland workers, not to line the pockets of unscrupulous contractors.”
Wage theft is a form of fraud. It happens when employers pay less than the minimum wage, underpay overtime work, steal tips, or deny, paid time off. The harm of stealing any part of an individual’s wages has lasting consequences for working-class families and their communities. These practices also disproportionately affect communities of color and, more specifically, immigrant communities.
“Sadly, this case is one of many recent wage theft lawsuits in public projects in Maryland. I’m hopeful that efforts in the legislature to fight wage theft gain momentum, particularly the Paystub Transparency Bill sponsored by Del. Jeff Long that forces employers to provide accurate paystubs to employees,” said Mark Hanna, partner at Murphy Anderson PLLC.
The lawsuit alleges the subcontractors Centerline and Congratulations engaged in a complex and intentional scheme to rob employees, including Jose Elias Martinez, Efrain Hernandez Bartolo, Isaias Hernandez Bartolo, and Genearo Villeda Maldonado.
The Plaintiffs further alleged each Thursday, a contractor issues paychecks in sealed envelopes for workers at the cancer center project. Before Jose Elias Martinez, a skilled carpenter and a party in the lawsuit, could open his check, a different contractor on the project would collect it back from him, swapping it for a new check. The second check was paid at a rate far below what Martinez and other workers were legally owed.
According to the workers, every hour, day, and week that Martinez and others worked on the project, a portion of their wages were stolen by his employers. Martinez explained his involvement in the lawsuit, “In my point of view, the lawsuit is important because it will stop an injustice against workers. It’s important to me to specifically stop my employers Centerline and Congratulations from continuing to do what they did to us. Some of our salary was taken from us and we had to work under false names. I hope that this lawsuit serves as an example for other companies to not do this.”
According to the Complaint, Congratulations and Centerline violated the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions and the Maryland Wage and Hour Law by:
- misclassifying employees as independent contractors;
- failing to pay workers the MD prevailing wage for the construction work that they performed on the project;
- requiring employees to sign daily timesheets using false names;
- Issuing paychecks to the workers using those false names;
- having Congratulations collect and retain the original paychecks; and
- failing to pay the required overtime wage.
The Complaint alleges that project general contractor Whiting Turner is liable under Maryland law for Congratulations and Centerline’s failure to pay their employees the required wages.
WLC and Murphy Anderson are seeking to stop the wage theft, damages for wages and benefits owed to workers associated with Whiting Turner, Centerline and Congratulations’ minimum wage and overtime violations as well as the litigation costs and legal fees.
Read the filed Complaint here.