Saturday, November 16, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

PUBLIC WORKS CONSTRUCTION PROJECT: Judge upholds ruling on prevailing wages

Contractor plans further appeal of case involving illegal aliens

A District Court judge has upheld a state labor commissioner's ruling that five Spanish-speaking carpenters, three of whom are illegal aliens, were denied prevailing wages on a public works project.

The construction company's attorney called the Tuesday decision the most egregious labor ruling in Nevada history.

But worker advocates praised the decision, saying it sends a strong message to other contractors who take advantage of immigrant workers.

The carpenters were among eight who filed complaints against City Plan Development, a Las Vegas-based contractor that hired them to help build a Clark County fire station in 1999. The other three workers failed to substantiate their complaints sufficiently, and their claims for compensation were denied by the state labor commissioner.

Labor Commissioner Terry Johnson in February found City Plan in violation of the state's prevailing wage law, required the company to pay the workers $11,946 in back wages and imposed a $1,550 fine. Johnson also disqualified the company from bidding on public works projects for two years.

Orin Grossman, the attorney representing City Plan, appealed the decision.

District Judge Jennifer Togliatti upheld Johnson's ruling, requiring the company to pay $11,946 in penalties in addition to the back wages and fines. Her decision disqualifies the company from bidding on public works projects for three years.

Late Friday, Johnson called the decision "the best victory we've had in the past few years."

"If you enforce prevailing wage laws, you make it unattractive to construction companies to bring in undocumented workers just so they can get paid substandard wages," he said.

Prevailing wages are set by the state. The labor commissioner conducts a survey of contractors each year, and the most common wage they report in each county for each trade becomes, in most cases, the prevailing wage.

Grossman said he plans to appeal Togliatti's decision to the state Supreme Court. He said the decision flies in the face of current national security concerns and makes no sense.

"You have people who admitted under oath that they were illegal aliens and forged documents to gain employment, and that made no difference to the labor commissioner or this new judge," he said. "They (the immigrants) have admitted their crimes under oath and have been aided and abetted by the state. ... I think certain people in the state are eventually going to have to answer to the federal government."

Grossman says Togliatti's decision essentially condones the employment of illegal aliens within the state even though state and federal laws say illegal, undocumented workers are not entitled to the same benefits as legal residents.

But Charlotte Bible, an assistant deputy attorney general, said the decision affirms wage protection for all workers on public works projects, regardless of race.

Johnson said the argument that illegal immigrants aren't entitled to prevailing wages "is a bogus attempt to cheat those workers and other law-abiding contractors in the community."

"I'm the labor commissioner, not an immigration commissioner," he said. "I see to it that workers get paid properly for work performed."

Johnson has said he doesn't have the authority to address immigration issues, which fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Several of the men had testified that they were required to sign blank time sheets, which later were filled out by a supervisor. They said company supervisors made them endorse checks for an amount based on their time sheets, but they were paid in cash an amount lower than the check's.

Sandra Maloney, director of field operations for the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee Inc., applauded Togliatti's decision but said she knows the fight is not over for the workers.

"We're very excited and see this as a step in the right direction," she said.