California construction company charged with gross wage theft on Cathedral City project – Daily News

By Deborah Brennan | CalMatters

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced today that he has filed 31 felony charges against a construction company for wage theft and tax evasion, costing the state and the company’s employees $2.6 million.

Bonta filed a criminal complaint On Aug. 26, US Framing alleged West evaded more than $2.5 million in state payroll taxes and low-wage workers at a public housing project in Cathedral City in Riverside County. Bonta said the company, which builds wood frames for projects such as hotels, apartments and public housing projects, left workers with a deficit of at least $40,000 when it was unable to pay the prevailing wage.

“For some reason, US Framing West seems to think it can operate outside the prevailing wage laws in California,” Bonta said at a press conference in Los Angeles today. “I’m here with a simple message: They can’t. “No company can do this.”

Cal Matters contacted officials from US Framing West website but did not receive a response.

Bonta charged the company and two of its officers, Thomas Gregory English and Amelia Frazier Krebs, with wage and tax violations in Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties.

Bonta said US Framing West hired unlicensed subcontractors between 2018 and 2022 and underreported payroll to the state Employment Development Department. He accused the company of grand theft, payroll tax evasion, wage theft and submitting false documents to the government.

US Framing West also bypassed personal income tax withholding and state unemployment and disability insurance premiums and submitted false payroll records for workers, Bonta said. Veterans VillageCathedral City project. The facility opened in 2022 and offers 60 residences and services for veterans.

The complaint states that the company stole the wages of 19 workers in Riverside County in 2021 and 2022. California’s criminal codeEmployers may face grand theft charges for stealing more than $950 in wages or tips from one employee, or a total of $2,350 from two or more employees in a year.

The Northern California Carpenters Regional Council notified the state Department of Justice about possible wage theft violations at a construction project in Oakland in 2019, Bonta said. The department then reviewed US Framing West’s other projects across the state.

The office filed a criminal complaint in August, and the two named defendants surrendered and appeared in court this month.

supporting crime

Matthew Miller, senior field representative for labor compliance for the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, said California’s prevailing wage requirements apply to most projects built with public financing. He said US Framing West is working on at least four housing projects financed by tax credits.

“California taxpayers are subsidizing criminal activity in the affordable housing sector,” Miller said.

He added that developers should avoid doing business with companies that ignore employment and tax laws.

Wage theft can take many forms; employers do not pay employees for all hours worked, fail to pay minimum wage, skip overtime pay, or do not allow legally required breaks. Bonta’s office said workers in California lose nearly $2 billion a year to wage theft, and those hardest hit are workers in low-wage industries. In 2020 and 2021, workers claimed more than $300 million in stolen wages each year.

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor, called wage theft the “number one crime” in the theft and theft category and said businesses shouldn’t be able to find their way around wage theft violations.