Claris Boots Drywall Sub Off Job Following DOL Violation

By John Voket

After 20 years without as much as a single violation, Claris Construction President Phil Clark said he was surprised and disappointed that a Bridgeport drywall company — a “sub of a subcontractor” — decided to put four workers onto a Claris job site in Newtown without the state required workers compensation.

“A sub of a sub wanted to expedite their part of the project by adding manpower,” Mr Clark explained. And when Department of Labor officials showed up at the Advanced Fusion Systems worksite on Edmond Road to deliver a stop work order, Mr Clark said he was “caught by surprise.”

As a result, the subcontractor, Golden Drywall, was “thrown off the job site and will not be permitted on any Claris job site going forward,” Mr Clark told The Newtown Bee.

Gary Peachie, director of Connecticut’s Workplace Standards Division of the Department of Labor, said Golden Drywall had four workers on the site who were misclassified as independent contractors.

“These four separate workers were not on the payroll and did not have the proper workmen’s compensation coverage,” Mr Peachie said. As a result, financial penalties will be assessed either against Claris and/or its initial sub, Lindade Construction, another Bridgeport firm that was hired to complete what Mr Clark described as “metal stud sheetrocking,” at the soon-to-be-opened high tech plant.

Mr Clark said his contract with Lindade stipulates that every individual permitted to work on the Claris job site “must comply with all government and labor department requirements” or face termination.

“This was the first time in 20 years we ever received a stop work order,” he added. “We have the DOL and OSHA come to our job sites regularly and up to now everything has been in perfect order.”

Mr Peachie said his department is quite accomplished at developing likely sites where workers like those from Golden Drywall may be out of conformity with state or federal labor laws.

“We’re always pulling and inspecting permits from local building officials,” Mr Peachie said. “When we develop a [suspected] site, we show up and interview workers, find out how long they’ve been on the job — a lot of time we learn they are being paid in cash. It’s a matter of peeling the onion, but we eventually get to the bottom of it if there are any violations.”

Like in the case of the Golden Drywall discovery, it is the DOL’s practice to stop the work until the contractor either proves they have obtained coverage, or in the case of the AFS violation, the company in violation is replaced with one that conforms.

“After we dismissed the violator, Lindade brought in workers immediately from another job site,” Mr Clark said. “We only lost a few hours and we are back on schedule.”

Mr Peachie said his agency also uses a national workers compensation database to determine if companies or employees have the necessary workers compensation coverage.

“Companies are routinely run through the database to verify they have coverage, and often they don’t,” Mr Peachie said. “Unfortunately, we sometimes come across a company that may be working outside the law for months.”

In that case, significant penalties may be assessed after the fact. By the same token, Mr Peachie said his agents are cognizant of the fact that a stop work order takes people off their job, “so we want to get them legal and back to work as soon as possible.”