Framingham construction company fined nearly $1 million for wage theft
Photo | Courtesy of State House News Service
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell
BPI Construction Management, a Framingham-based company, has been fined $926,898 by the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General for violations of the Massachusetts False Claims Acts.
The violation stems from the failure of a BPI subcontractor, Superior Carpentry of Framingham, to pay prevailing wages to employees working on two public construction projects in Westport and Middleborough. This led to a complaint against the company being filed in December 2021, according to a press release released by AG’s office on Wednesday.
The fine was the result of litigation between BPI and the attorney general’s office, in which BPI argued that they were relying on the accuracy of the forms submitted by Superior. BPI denied any knowledge of the fraud being committed by Superior, according to the release, but admitted that it did not take steps to ensure that the payroll information was accurate.
This is the first case under the False Claims Act that affirms that contractors are liable for facilitating misconduct by subcontractors, according to the press release.
The AG’s office estimated that workers on the project were underpaid by a combined total of $256,539.
“Companies that receive public funds for projects must ensure that all workers receive the pay and benefits they are entitled to,” said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in the press release. “I am grateful for the team’s continued efforts to safeguard the Commonwealth’s public resources while protecting our workers from exploitation.”
In a statement provided to WBJ, BPI general manager Daniel Ganley disputed the violations and said the company will appeal the fine.
"We have a great reputation before this case, during, and will maintain this long after," Ganley said in the statement. "We strongly value our men and customers that are the life source of our business, and we respect this tremendously. We are clearly wrongly accused and will maintain our innocence all the way until the end."
The Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law mandates that all employees on a public works project must be paid the prevailing wage, regardless of whether they are employed by the general contractor, a filed sub-bidder, or sub-contractor. The law applies to both union and non-union workers, according to the AG’s office website.
The matter was handled by the state’s Fair Labor Division, which was established in 2015 to protect workers from wage exploitation. The state’s prevailing wage is set by the Department of Labor Standards, according to the Fair Labor Division’s website.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated from a previous version to include a statement from BPI.
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