Revere construction company settles fair wages suit with AG

REVERE – The state’s Attorney General last week ordered the owner of a Revere construction company who worked on the Rumney Marsh School and other public works projects to pay nearly $60,000 in restitution and fines after he was accused of failing to pay his employees a prevailing wage and overtime.Richard Bennett, 39, of Revere, the owner of R.B. Metalmen Inc., reached a settlement Oct. 27 after he was charged with violating prevailing wage, overtime pay and employee record keeping laws.An audit of R.B. Metalmen’s records revealed the company failed to pay the prevailing wage rate to seven employees at public work sites at the Rumney Marsh School in Revere in addition to sites in Dracut, Watertown and Fall River, according to AG Martha Coakley’s office.As part of the settlement, both Bennett and R.B. Metalmen Inc. have agreed to refrain from bidding on public works projects for one year.Bennett agreed to pay $46,000 in restitution for “unintentionally” failing to pay the prevailing wage to seven employees and nearly $1,600 in restitution for unintentionally failing to pay overtime, authorities said.Bennett and his company must also pay $10,500 in fines for the violations. In addition, the company will pay $5,000 in fines for unintentionally failing to submit true and accurate certified payroll records, the AG’s office said.An investigation into the company began in June when the Attorney General’s office received a complaint from an R.B. Metalmen employee who said he was not paid the prevailing wage for carpentry work performed building a public works parking garage in Lowell.”Investigators from the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division discovered that Bennett and his company had misclassified seven of their employees as laborers rather than carpenters,” AG spokesman Harry Pierre said.The audit also showed the company failed to pay time and a half to two employees who worked over 40 hours in a single week.