Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating wage theft and employee-misclassification claims involving workers who helped construct City Ridge, the large mixed-use development at the former Fannie Mae campus in Northwest Washington, D.C.
What is the issue?
City Ridge required hundreds of workers in plumbing, HVAC, mechanical, drywall, framing, concrete, electrical, and related trades. Some workers were allegedly labeled independent contractors even though supervisors determined where, when, and how they worked.
The D.C. Attorney General alleges that Whiting-Turner hired W.G./Welch Mechanical Contractors under a contract worth approximately $19 million and that Welch then obtained workers through Mechanical Plumbing Crew, GINCO HVAC, and Ramirez Plumbing. According to the lawsuit, workers were misclassified and deprived of wages and benefits required by D.C. law.
Workers may have experienced:
- Being called an independent contractor despite working as part of a supervised construction crew.
- Receiving a Form 1099 instead of a Form W-2.
- Straight-time pay for hours over 40.
- No paid sick leave.
- No payroll taxes, unemployment coverage, or workers’ compensation protection.
- A flat daily rate that did not increase when employees worked long shifts.
- Payment through a labor broker whose name differed from the company supervising the work.
- Missing wages when moving between contractors or crews.
Signs you may be affected
- You performed construction, demolition, installation, cleanup, material-handling, or another construction trade at the City Ridge development.
- You worked for a subcontractor, staffing company, labor broker, or other company rather than directly for the project’s general contractor.
- You were paid a flat daily rate or received a Form 1099 even though a supervisor controlled your schedule, assignments, and work.
- You worked more than 40 hours in a week but did not receive overtime pay.
- You were denied employee benefits or paid sick and safe leave because you were treated as an independent contractor.
- Your employer required you to pay for your own insurance, tools, or business expenses in order to keep working.
Workers may recognize City Ridge but not Whiting-Turner, Welch, or the labor broker appearing on their paycheck. D.C. law can impose responsibility on companies higher in the construction chain even when those companies did not issue the worker’s paycheck.
If you performed construction, renovation, installation, demolition, cleanup, material-handling, or site-support work at City Ridge and were paid through a labor broker, treated as an independent contractor, or denied overtime, please contact Migliaccio & Rathod LLP through the form below, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (202) 470-3520.