Employment Wage and Hour Law: San Diego Construction Workers to Get $2-million in Owed Wages

July 22, 2010

San Diego – More than 700 construction employees will receive about $2.1 million in owed wages after a settlement was reached between the state Labor Commissioner and Rady Children’s Hospital and its general contractor, a web statement of the Labor Commission said.

The statement said the settlement was reached after the state Department of Industrial Relations has determined that the project was a public works project and therefore subject to prevailing wage requirements.

The workers are employed by McCarthy Construction Companies, which was hired by Rady to build a four-storey tower adjacent to the Hospital. The project received $62 million from a 2004 state bond.

Rady Children’s Hospital and McCarthy Construction agreed to allow the Labor Commissioner’s Office to review and verify self-audits completed by the general and sub-contractors on the project in order to determine the wages owed.

The audit covered work performed from the beginning of the project in 2008 through December 2009. The parties also agreed to pay prevailing wage on continuing construction work on the hospital tower.