Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether workers who helped construct apartment towers, offices, hotels, and mixed-use developments in Washington’s NoMa neighborhood were misclassified or denied overtime and other wages.
What is the issue?
Large construction projects frequently involve a general contractor, specialty subcontractors, lower-tier subcontractors, staffing companies, and individual labor brokers. Workers may be recruited by a crew leader and paid by a company whose name never appears on the construction fence.
The D.C. Attorney General announced a $1.5 million resolution of allegations that Brothers Mechanical and subcontractors misclassified hundreds of workers on major projects in NoMa, Navy Yard, and other D.C. neighborhoods. The allegations involved workers treated as independent contractors and deprived of wages and employment benefits.
This investigation seeks to identify additional workers, projects, trades, contractors, and periods that may not have been fully addressed by prior enforcement.
Construction workers may have experienced:
- Receiving a Form 1099 despite working as part of a supervised crew.
- Straight-time pay for hours over 40.
- Flat daily or weekly rates for long shifts.
- Cash, check, Zelle, Cash App, or other informal payments.
- No paid sick and safe leave.
- Deductions for tools, protective equipment, transportation, insurance, or payroll processing.
- Being required to create a company or obtain business insurance to keep working.
- Missing wages when a labor broker disappeared.
- Hours divided among related companies.
- Different company names appearing on checks, badges, orientation documents, and tax forms.
Signs you may be affected
- You performed construction, demolition, framing, drywall, electrical, plumbing, concrete, or another construction trade on a project in the NoMa neighborhood.
- You worked for a subcontractor, labor broker, staffing company, or other contractor rather than directly for the project’s general contractor.
- You were paid a flat daily rate or received a Form 1099 even though your work schedule and duties were controlled by a supervisor.
- 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.
- You were required to pay for your own tools, insurance, transportation, or other business expenses as a condition of your work.
Workers can identify a claim by the project address, neighborhood, photographs, supervisor, crew, and approximate dates. D.C. law may impose liability on companies higher in the construction chain.
If you performed construction, renovation, installation, demolition, cleanup, material-handling, logistics, or other site-support work in NoMa and believe you were misclassified or underpaid, please contact Migliaccio & Rathod LLP through the form below, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (202) 470-3520.