The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division recently recovered $92,912 in unpaid wages and fringe benefits for 27 workers employed by Christian Brothers Mechanical Services Inc., a Mira Loma-based subcontractor. An investigation found that the heating, ventilation and air conditioning subcontractor violated the prevailing wage and fringe benefits requirements under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts while servicing two U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' contracts at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside between 2011 and 2014.
The division found that Christian Brothers paid several journeymen at the lower laborer's rate for hours worked when the contractor owed the full rate. The company also failed to pay employees appropriate and timely fringe benefits.
The Davis-Bacon Act requires that all contractors and subcontractors performing work on federal and certain federally funded construction projects pay their laborers and mechanics at least the prevailing wage rates associated with their occupation, as determined by the secretary of labor.