Lynn co. owner fuming over $290G state penalty

LYNN – The owner of a Lynn trucking company is fuming over an order made by the state attorney general to shell out more than $290,000 in restitution and penalties for allegedly failing to pay the correct wages, hand out pay stubs and keep accurate records.”They’re way off. This is ridiculous,” said Frank A. Hope III of Hope Trucking and Demo, Inc. “These people are crazy, it will bankrupt my company.”According to a press release issued by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, Hope’s company, located at 239 Judge Road, was cited for owing more than $140,000 in wages to 20 employees who worked at three public construction sites in the state. The company was also whacked with $150,000 in civil penalties including a $70,000 fine for willful failure to pay the prevailing wage; $30,000 for willful failure to submit true and accurate certified payroll records to the authorities at the three public construction sites; $25,000 for willful failure to provide pay stubs to their employees and $25,000 for willful failure to keep true and accurate general payroll records.”Any employer that does business with the state must abide by all of our laws, which includes properly paying workers on all public construction projects,” Coakley said in a press release. “These laws are designed to protect workers and also level the playing field for all businesses across the commonwealth.”An anonymous complaint was placed to the AG’s Fair Labor Division in February alleging that Hope, and Hope Trucking, failed to pay the correct prevailing wage rate for work performed at the Runkle School project in Brookline. Investigators conducted a site inspection and discovered that Hope was paying several laborers $14-$22 per hour in cash while not providing pay stubs.As a result, investigators reviewed the certified payroll records that Hope, and Hope Trucking, had submitted and determined that they had reported paying the employees $49.35 per hour, the correct prevailing wage rate according to the press release.Hope said the fines would cripple his business, which he has owned for 12 years.”I’m just shocked by this, blown away really, because I have all the canceled checks from the jobs that I’ve paid,” Hope said. “I sent all the information to them (AG’s office) and I’m sitting down with them and my attorney on June 2. I don’t know where they’re coming up with these crazy numbers.”Following the investigation, the AG’s office sent Hope, and Hope Trucking, a demand for both their general and certified payroll records for all of 2010 through part of February 2011. According to the press release, neither submitted any payroll records demonstrating how much they paid their employees at the Runkle School project.The company did, however, submit certified payroll records for public construction work performed at the Needham Town Hall’s renovations and additions project and the Amesbury Elm Street main replacement project. According to those records, Hope and his company certified to the awarding authorities that they paid the correct prevailing wage rates. The AG’s office said they did not provide records showing any payment of wages to their employees so, as a result, a subsequent audit by the AG’s office revealed that Hope, and Hope Trucking, owed a total of $140,603.70 in unpaid wages to 20 employees.