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Company found liable to pay $.2M to 27 workers
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Posted on Mar 17 2006
The Department of Labor has found a construction company and its owner liable to pay a total of $240,046 to their 27 workers and sanctioned both to pay $70,000 for non-payment of wages and illegal deductions.
Labor Administrative Hearing Officer Herbert D. Soll said CWM Inc. and its owner, Chen Binru, have been found to be jointly and severally liable for the amounts awarded to the workers.
Soll sanctioned CWM and Binru each with $1,000 for each 35 consolidated Labor offenses that they had violated, for a total of $35,000 against each of them.
Soll said all amounts owed the workers are to be paid prior to the application of funds to these sanctions.
The surety bonds for each employee, which have been written by several insurance companies, shall satisfy each claim if CWM and Binru are unable to pay, the hearing officer said.
The respondents are also permanently barred from employing nonresident workers in the Commonwealth.
The 27 claimants and their awards, including damages, are the following: Xie Shunping, $6,100; Zhao Xiliang, $6,588; Xiao Rongjian, $10,324; Lin Dongxiang, $6,100; Wu Lice, $6,224; Liang Fangming, $6,606; Li Rongshao, $5,124; Chen Xinzhao, $11,956; Zhao Renhong, $8,784; Wu Yujian, $10,544; Zhao Xiwen, $8,296; Huang Ruijun, $19,032; Lin Longsi, $5,124; Wu Yilu, $18,400; Feng Shaotai, $5,612.
The others are Chen Yanjun, $5,612; Huang Binghong, $8,296; Li Bingyan, $5,612; Xiao Xinwen, $11,468; Xiao Yangbang, $5,612; Xu Qilun, $13,664; Luo Dewen, $5,612; Su Wohui, $7,564; Xiao Yanguang, $11,468; Zhen Jianwei, $13,388; Xiao Yanwen, $11,468; and Chen Yanqin, $5,468.
Labor determined that the workers were employed by the respondents from 1997 to 1999.
The respondents failed to pay wages to the complainants. The employers even illegally deducted certain amounts from some of the workers under the pretense of tax liability or withholding tax and charging them processing fees.
There were a total of 52 complaining workers. The hearing for the 27 workers were held on Dec. 16 and 22, 2005. The claims of two other workers—Wu Yuwen and Wu Yingda—were heard earlier and adjudicated in the administrative order issued on Dec. 27, 2005. Some other employees did not appear at Labor.
