Wage dispute nets $143K fine

The state fined Tradewind Plastering and Drywall Inc. $143,000 for underpaying construction workers on a building project at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

Tradewind was a subcontractor of Jacobsen Construction Co. on the UH-Hilo College of Hawaiian Language Building project and misclassified workers as lower-paid apprentices, violating the state’s wage law for public works construction projects.

Workers were underpaid by $130,367, according to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, which assessed the firm another $13,037 in penalties for misclassifying the employees.

“Our state prevailing wage law intends that all construction contractors bid on a level playing field with regard to labor costs,” DLIR Director Linda Chu Takayama said Monday in a news release. “Bids are to be won because of better, more efficient contracting methods, rather than by pushing down the standard of living for Hawaii’s workers.”

DLIR recently recovered wages for hair salon workers who weren’t paid for their work while classified as apprentices.

In another case, involving the Holiday Inn Express at the Maile Sky Court, workers were misclassified as independent contractors and did not receive the required employee protections and benefits.