Employees' Actions Lead To Contractor's Conviction And Level The Playing FieldC

CALPASC Continues to Support Joint State and Local Collaborations to Bring Fraudulent Contractors to Justice

Sacramento, CA /PRNewswire/ - Licensed electrical contractor Calvin Harris, of Harris Electric, was convicted of eight felony counts on February 9 for not paying employees prevailing wages and falsifying documents to conceal his actions. The investigation was conducted jointly by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, the California Department of Industrial Relations and the California Department of Insurance. According to Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley's press release, two of Harris Electric's employees reported being victims of the wage theft on three public works' projects – Alameda County General Services Agency (Santa Rita Jail Solar Project), the Port of Oakland and the City of Fremont – which led to the investigation of Harris.  According to the press release, "A comparison of Harris' payroll records for the Alameda County projects revealed employee wage theft violations of $359,347.89," which impacted 11 employees.

The following comments can be attributed to Bruce Wick, Director of Risk Management, California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors (CALPASC):

"Employees work in good faith that their employers won't cheat them of their deserved earnings.

"CALPASC commends the California Department of Industrial Relations, the California Department of Insurance and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for the investigation that brought Harris' dishonesty to light.

"This conviction is another excellent example of state and local agencies working together to crack down on unlawful contractors who skirt the law and take advantage of their employees.

"Legitimate contractors, who follow the letter of the law, lose work to contractors who underbid projects by not paying prevailing wages, falsifying payroll records and failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for their employees.

"The actions of deceitful contractors like Harris not only harm employees and honest contractors, they also bilk the state out of millions of dollars annually in unpaid workers' compensation insurance, health benefits, disability payments and unemployment insurance."