Oregon Launches Investigation into Hillsboro Wage Theft Case
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry launched a formal investigation into Cornerstone Janitorial last year after GoLocalPDX reported that several former workers claimed they had been denied their full legal wages on a handful of publicly funded construction jobs.
Last year, Hoffman Construction, a general contractor that hired Cornerstone, filed two complaints against the firm for work it did on the Oregon State Hospital in Junction City and an underground parking garage at Portland Community College Cascade Campus in North Portland. BOLI then launched separate investigations into three other projects that Cornerstone worked on over the last four years.
Jose Tandy, a Mexican immigrant and resident of Southeast Portland, has told GoLocalPDX that he was paid an average of $12 an hour for jobs with state-mandated wages of $36. Tandy presumed that Cornerstone owner, Sang Nam, pocketed the difference.
“This is discrimination and racism. I’m being robbed,” Tandy told GoLocalPDX through an interpreter in Oct.
Under prevailing wage laws, taxpayer-funded projects, like a new high school, require that all contractors and subcontractors get paid a prescribed wage. A GoLocalPDX investigation uncovered workers who claimed that for years Cornerstone has paid them in cash, and at rates one-third of the prevailing wage on such projects.
Cornerstone Janitorial performs cleanup services at construction sites. The company usually comes in after a project is largely completed to clean up site debris, as well as finish and clean flooring and other surfaces.
Sixty-one year-old Burton Straub said he first started working for Cornerstone in 2011. Straub was looking for work at a place called “Cash Corner” on Southeast 6th Street and Ankeny Avenue, where day laborers often congregate.
“I liked him because he did a lot of inside work during the winter months,” Straub said of Cornerstone's operator, Sang Nam.
However, over the years he said Nam has short changed him on prevailing wage jobs. Straub has filed a claim for wage theft on three jobs in Oregon and one in Washington. He said between the four he is owed about $9,000 in wages.
Jose Tandy, a former Cornerstone worker, was featured in a GoLocalPDX investigation in Oct.
In Washington, the Department of Labor and Industry continues to work on an investigation into Cornerstone’s work on Washington State University’s $61 million sports facility in Pullmam. That investigation could impacts as many as 11 workers, according to DLI spokesman Matthew Erlich.
As of Feb. 2, Tandy said he had 12 different grievances against Cornerstone dating back to 2009. He had not calculated the total amount owed to him. In Oct, Tandy said his wages in one year alone may have been short by up to $20,000.
Another worker, Alfonso Torres-Rodriguez, said he was regularly paid $12 an hour on prevailing wage jobs that he now understands paid over $34 an hour. He attempted to file a claim against Cornerstone with BOLI in January, but he cannot read or write in English or Spanish and struggled to complete the paperwork.
The state said that in most cases they are able to restore wages to workers who go through the trouble of filing a complaint.
“We investigates about 150 of these [prevailing wage complaints] a year," BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said. "Our investigators are able to recover the vast majority of prevailing wages."
Nam, a Korean immigrant, has operated Cornerstone since 2001. When reached by GoLocalPDX, Nam said he was cooperating with investigators, but declined to comment any further.
If Cornerstone is proven guilty of prevailing wage violations, the company may have to pay restitution to workers equal to as much as twice the value of the lost wages. Nam might also have to pay fines as high as $5,000 per incident and could face civil action.
Cornerstone could be disbarred from bidding on publicly funded construction contracts in Oregon for up to three years.
Burton said he would rather see Cornerstone get its business license pulled.
“He should never be able to do this again.”
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