In abstract
A wooden framing firm is accused of stiffing employees and the state $2.6 million. Two workers might face penalties and jail if convicted.
California Lawyer Basic Rob Bonta filed 31 felony prices of wage theft and tax evasion towards a building firm that he stated price the state and the corporate’s employees $2.6 million, he introduced at the moment.
Bonta filed the felony grievance on Aug. 26 alleging that US Framing West dodged greater than $2.5 million in state payroll taxes and underpaid employees on a public housing challenge in Cathedral Metropolis, in Riverside County. The corporate, which builds wooden framing for such initiatives as inns, residences and housing developments, shorted employees no less than $40,000 when it did not pay the prevailing wage, Bonta stated.
“For some reason US Framing West seems to think it can operate outside the prevailing wage laws of California,” Bonta stated in a press convention in Los Angeles at the moment. “I’m here with a simple message: They cannot. No company can.”
Cal Issues contacted officers with US Framing West named on its web site however didn’t obtain a response.
Bonta charged the corporate and two of its officers, Thomas Gregory English and Amelia Frazier Krebs, with wage and tax violations in Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties.
Political observers count on Bonta to announce a run for governor, so publicizing a high-profile labor case might assist him construct help from unions. Most wage theft instances introduced by the state are dealt with administratively or in civil courtroom.
Between 2018 and 2022, US Framing West employed unlicensed subcontractors and underreported its payroll to the state Employment Growth Division, Bonta stated. He accused the corporate of grand theft, payroll tax evasion, prevailing wage theft, and submitting false paperwork with the state.
US Framing West additionally skipped private revenue tax withholding and premiums for state unemployment and incapacity insurance coverage, Bonta stated, and it filed false payroll data for employees on Veterans Villagethe Cathedral Metropolis challenge. The ability opened in 2022, providing 60 housing models and companies for veterans.
The grievance says the corporate stole wages from 19 employees in Riverside County in 2021 and 2022. Beneath California’s penal codeemployers can face grand theft prices for stealing greater than $950 in wages or suggestions from one worker or a complete of $2,350 from two or extra workers inside a yr.
The Northern California Carpenters Regional Council tipped off the state Division of Justice to potential wage theft violations at an Oakland building challenge in 2019, Bonta stated. The division subsequently regarded into US Framing West’s different initiatives throughout the state.
The workplace filed prices in August, and the 2 named defendants surrendered and have been arraigned this month.
Subsidizing crime
California’s prevailing wage necessities apply to most initiatives constructed with public funding, stated Matthew Miller, senior area consultant for labor compliance for Nor Cal Carpenters Union. He stated US Framing West was engaged on no less than 4 housing initiatives financed with tax credit.
“California taxpayers are subsidizing criminal activity in the affordable housing industry,” Miller stated.
He added that builders ought to keep away from doing enterprise with corporations that skirt employment and tax legal guidelines.
Wage theft can take varied kinds — employers don’t pay workers for all hours labored, don’t pay the minimal wage, skip additional time pay or don’t permit legally required breaks. In California, employees lose about $2 billion a yr to wage theft, Bonta’s workplace stated, and employees in low-wage industries are essentially the most affected. In 2020 and 2021, employees filed claims for greater than $300 million in stolen wages every year.
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, referred to as wage theft “the number one crime” within the housebreaking and theft class and stated companies shouldn’t be capable of pay their manner out of wage theft violations.
