Callahan & Blaine

Eighty-five construction workers employed by SelectBuild (a subsidiary of BMHC Corporation) in California, Arizona and Nevada filed suit against their employer recently. The workers claimed that their employer cheated them out of pay for hours they had worked by refusing to pay overtime and by not paying for hours worked while employees were either travelling between sites or waiting for materials while on site. BMHC and all of its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in June of 2009. Even so, workers were able to settle the case out of court several months later for $241,000.

According to The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), wage fraud like that perpetrated in this case is all too common in the construction industry. They say that pressure on contractors to reduce costs is the main culprit. The organization estimates that construction workers may have been cheated out of as much as $750 million dollars nationwide over the course of the most recent housing boom.

The law office of Callahan & Blaine is California’s premier litigation firm, specializing in employment lawsuits like this one. In a similar class action employment law case that took place in Orange county, California, Callahan & Blaine lawyers negotiated a $42 million settlement for a group of paper carriers denied employment rights by the Orange County Register.

If you believe you have been denied fair compensation by an employer, contact California’s premier litigation firm, Callahan & Blaine, to discuss your employment law case today.