On April 15, traditionally known as “Tax Day,” members of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters gathered to raise awareness on wage theft and tax fraud in the construction industry. While it is not a new issue in the construction industry, “The pandemic has only exacerbated any and all issues that were existing before,” said Noel Xavier, organizer of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC).
In the past year, construction industry layoffs were especially high. According to the 2020 Marcum JOLTS Analysis of construction employment trends reports, in April 2020, a record high of 709,000 workers, or 10.8 percent of the total construction workforce, were laid off or discharged. In addition to the layoffs, they were exposed to even more abuse and injustice on construction worksites as the economy fell into recession.
Among the major labor abuses in construction is wage theft. According to the NASRCC, “Each year labor brokers and contractors cheat their workers of $8 billion in wages and $811 million in overtime pay. They avoid tax obligations by misclassifying their hires and paying an estimated 20% of construction workers ‘off the books,’ robbing taxpayers of up to $8.4 billion through lost federal income, employment taxes, and state income taxes.”
On a livestream with Senator Eric Lesser, Xavier explained that, “Historically, construction jobs have been solid good paying jobs, [for] those that chose to work with your hands right, and [they offer] a direct pathway into the middle class, providing workers with decent earnings and health care coverage. …Over the decades is a big shift from the model that used to be an employer employee model, and we’re starting to see now, much more of a subcontractor to subcontractor model.”
In this subcontractor to subcontractor model, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) Director of Policy and Programs Al Vega said, “They always want to make a profit, so they then figure out …this is how much we’re willing to pay to get the work done …So then that subcontractor gets a certain amount and says, now, [what] am I willing to pay those workers so that I, the subcontractor, gets some of the profit for myself? But sometimes …the worker at the end of the chain gets paid $7 an hour, and hasn’t been paid in a month.”
In particular, immigrants are especially vulnerable to falling victim to these situations because of language barriers and sometimes due to their undocumented status. Vega said, “Unfortunately, particularly immigrant workers and, if they are undocumented, are always ripe for abuse and [different kinds of] labor violations to be put on them and for threats in retaliation to be used as a way to quiet workers and not let them exercise their rights so when it comes to their wages.”
Lesser echoes the sentiment, adding that, “It’s been an immigrant workforce that was disproportionately working in construction as laborers, and it’s a workforce that is vulnerable to exploitation because of language barriers, because of the the lack of access to legal representation, to other resources, and it creates real safety issues, both for the workers but also for the public. Would you want to walk into a huge skyscraper that wasn’t built the right way?”
Currently, when those guilty of wage theft are found out, the attorney general could file a suit for up to three times the gap owed to the worker. For instance, if a worker was paid $300 when they are entitled to $1000, the fine for wage theft would be three times $700. Hence, Lesser said, “The goal is to prevent that from happening. You want to make sure people are following the rules on the front end rather than having to chase it afterwards.”
Coalitions such as MassCOSH and advocates are helping to push for the wage theft bill to be passed in the state legislature. It has been voted on with overwhelming support in the senate, but the State House has yet to pass the law. According to Vega, it has been “going on over six years …We’re really hoping that this year, with a new speaker of the house, that he’s willing to really understand that if he wants to do everything possible to ensure adjust recovery, ensuring that workers can get their wages so that they can provide for their families and continue to survive, and in these times, that’s what I think our legislature needs to do.”
As for whether undocumented immigrants are also protected, both Lesser and Vega said that while they are unsure about specifics, the aim is to ensure the protection of all workers, regardless of immigration status.
Vega said, “It’s written out in a way where we want workers, regardless of their documentation, to be able to have an open and clear process and understanding of being able to recover wages for X number of months or weeks back from when they first bring up the fact that they’ve had their wages stolen from them.”
Lesser said, “It’s the most cruel type of exploitation, so it’s really very important that we have a mechanism for people to be able to report that to authorities in a way that doesn’t compromise their immigration position.”
Vega and Lesser both hope for the law to be passed soon, especially moving forward in a recovering economy. Lesser said, “You’re going to see a lot more construction happening because the housing market is high and interest rates are low. We’re hopefully in an economic rebound here, which hopefully also means more construction. …We need to make sure people are working safe and that the workers themselves are getting what they’re entitled to.”
For any worker experiencing wage theft, MassCOSH can be reached at: 617-505-8939 or
617-505-8940. In addition, they can be found on social media @MassCOSH.
