Mass Attorney General: Company Violated Wage Law on 2 Framingham Projects – Historic Village Hall & Branch Library Building

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BOSTON – A Lowell asbestos abatement company and its operators have been cited more than $564,000, including restitution for 32 employees, for violating the Massachusetts prevailing wage, overtime, and earned sick time laws, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced today, October 20.

Fiber Control Inc., its president Bahram Safarpoormonfared, and operators Dara Chhim and Khly Sok, received four citations for intentionally failing to pay the prevailing wage and overtime, failing to maintain an earned sick time policy, and repeated payroll records violations.

The company, Safarpoormonfared, Chhim, and Sok have ignored the citations and have been debarred from working on public works projects for the time period of one year starting on October 10, 2020.

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“Contractors who perform work on public construction projects have a duty to pay the prevailing wage,” said AG Healey. “We will enforce state laws that protect construction workers from wage theft and ensure a level playing field for contractors and construction companies that bid on public works projects.” 

According to the AG’s Office, Fiber Control employees performed work on 15 public construction projects between September 2017 through February 2019, where none of the workers received the required prevailing wage rate.

The AG’s investigation revealed that Fiber Control repeatedly submitted certified payroll records stating employees were paid the full prevailing wage, when in fact they were not.

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Those public constructions projects were at the following locations:

• Belmont Housing Authority
• Cape Cod Community College
• Cambridge – Putnam Gardens
• Clinton Housing Authority
• Concord – Ripley Steam Lab
• Danvers – Willis Thorpe School
• David Prouty High School – Spencer East Brookfield Regional School District
• Worcester – DYS Leahy Center
• Hyannis Fire & Rescue Headquarters
• Framingham – 10 Nichols Road
• Framingham – Village Hall
• UMass-Amherst Tilson Poultry Building
• UMass-Lowell
• Walpole Fisher Elementary School
• Walpole Town Hall

In 2018 and 2019, the AG’s Office cited Fiber Control for failing to furnish records and failing to pay prevailing wage on public projects.

The company did not pay the citations, which resulted in a lien against the company and a debarment from bidding or working on public works projects.

  The AG’s Office enforces laws that regulate the payment of wages, including the prevailing wage laws, special minimum wage laws that apply to certain public construction projects and public works to ensure quality workmanship and fairness in the awarding of public contracts.

The law also requires contractors and subcontractors working on public works construction projects to submit weekly true and accurate certified payroll records to the public entity that awards the contractors the public construction project contracts.

 Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to file a complaint at www.mass.gov/ago/fairlabor. For information about the state’s wage and hour laws, workers may call the AG’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or go to www.mass.gov/ago/fairlabor for materials in multiple languages.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Amy Goyer and Supervising Investigator Greg Reutlinger of the AG’s Fair Labor Division, with assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protect.

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Press release above was submitted to SOURCE from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.