Noteboom The Law Firm

Cape Coral VA Outpatient Clinic Contractor Hit With Multiple Labor Violations

March 15, 2011 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient clinic at Cape Coral is not yet constructed. Despite this, Quinco Electrical, which is one of the electrical contractors who had put it work on the project, was recently ordered to pay out $68,778. The money is back wages for 14 employees following the contractor's federal labor law violations. Additionally, Quinco is under investigation for being in violation of The Buy American Act, which prevents them from using products with less than a 50% American-made material composite. 

The fines are the result of Quinco purposely misclassified some of their employees. They had employees working as electricians, who are paid $25 an hour. Quinco, however, classified them as pipe layers, who are paid around $12 an hour. Quinco defended their decision by stating because the employees were laying pipe to be used for electrical work, then they were acting as pipe layers and should be paid accordingly.

Quinco was not given any fines or penalties aside from the order to reimburse their employees, and the Labor Department stated they do not believe Quinco intentionally violated the law.

The Cape Coral VA Outpatient Clinic is a federal project. U.S. law mandates 50% of materials used on the project must be sourced in the U.S. The overall cost of this clinic is approximately $130 million. The materials in question are worth approximately $200,000, so the violation is a minor one. That notwithstanding, a violation is a violation. Quinco was ordered to pay for the removal and replacement of all parts in question.

Finally, the company was also found to have violated a labor law that sets the ratio of journeymen on the site to the apprentices. Quinco had too many apprentices, and even then they did not pay them enough in overtime. Luckily, these violations were found quickly and will not affect the clinic's completion date, which is November 2011.