Lawsuit: Public Works Laborers 'Deprived' of Proper Wages

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Comfort Systems USA (Syracuse), Inc., which does business in the state of New York as ABJ Fire Protections Co., Inc., is the defendant in a proposed class action brought on behalf of laborers, workmen, and mechanics who were allegedly not paid overtime wages or “prevailing wages” in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York state law. Proposed class members were employed by the defendant to perform various types of electrical work on public works projects, and Comfort Systems allegedly signed contracts with the public customers specifying the workers’ rates of pay. According to the complaint, “Comfort Systems willfully failed to pay Plaintiff and other members of the putative class the prevailing rates of wages and supplements to which they were entitled.” The suit argues that the defendant “was unjustly enriched” for the work performed by its employees because the price it was paid by the customer accounted for a higher rate of compensation than the workers were actually given. It further argues that workers were not paid time-and-a-half overtime wages for hours worked above 40 in a week.

“Plaintiff and members of the putative class have performed a significant amount of work for which they have not been properly paid,” the complaint says. The case seeks monetary relief for proposed class members.