Press Release  AG's Office Reaches Settlement With Watertown Construction Company For Subcontractor's Failure To Pay Prevailing Wage On Five Public Construction Projects

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced it has reached a settlement with Avatar Construction Corporation (Avatar), a construction company based in Watertown, MA, and its owner, Nazar Vincent. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the AGO, alleging that the company violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act (MFCA) in connection with prevailing wage theft when it and a subcontractor allegedly underpaid workers on five municipal construction projects in Cambridge, Lawrence, Saugus, and Watertown. 

In accordance with the settlement, Avatar has paid $320,000 to the Commonwealth, allowing the state to pay approximately $172,000 in restitution to impacted workers. 

The AGO’s March 2023 lawsuit alleged that on five municipal public construction projects, Avatar used 68 fraudulent payroll forms, prepared by its subcontractor, Gonza Construction, Inc. of Worcester, to certify compliance with the Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law, when in fact, workers on the projects were paid less than half of what they were owed. The AGO alleged that in addition to being fraudulent, the payroll forms contained widespread flagrant errors.

The Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law sets the minimum hourly wage rates allowable for certain classifications of workers on public construction projects in the Commonwealth. The law requires submittal of weekly certified payroll forms as an express condition of payment on most public contracts. Under the Prevailing Wage Law, it is unlawful for subcontractors to use false records that are substantively related to a payment claim without making a reasonable effort to ensure such records are accurate.

Last fall, the AGO announced the issuance of a judgment in a similar prevailing wage lawsuit filed by the Office against BPI Construction Corporation of Framingham. The judgment required the company to pay nearly $1 million for violating the MFCA and affirmed that liability under the MFCA extends up the payment chain to contractors who, by action or inaction, knowingly facilitate misconduct by their subcontractors.  

This matter was initiated by a complaint from the Plumbers Union Local 12 and follows close collaboration between the AGO’s False Claims Division and Fair Labor Division in response to a pattern of wage theft complaints involving payroll prepared by subcontractors. 

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Walker of the AGO’s False Claims Division and Supervising Investigator Greg Reutlinger of the AGO’s Fair Labor Division.   

The AGO’s False Claims Division was created in 2015 to safeguard public funds and promote integrity and accountability in public contracting. Anyone with information on suspected fraud or abuse relating to state or municipal contracts or funds may contact the False Claims Division’s tip line at 617-963-2600.

Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to file a complaint at mass.gov/ago/fld. For information about the state’s wage and hour laws, workers may call the AG’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or visit mass.gov/ago/fairlabor for information available in multiple languages. 

###