Press Release  Chicopee Roofing Company Fails to Pay Employees Properly for Work Performed on Veterans Facility, Other Public Projects

Boston — A Chicopee roofing company that failed to pay employees in accordance with state wage and hour laws for work performed on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and other projects has paid more than $32,000 in restitution and penalties, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. 

Supreme Systems, Inc. (formally known as Tri-State Roofing Systems, Inc.) was cited by the AG’s Office for its failure to pay prevailing wages and failure to pay wages in a timely manner. 

“Employees doing work on public projects in Massachusetts rely on our state wage, hour and prevailing wage laws so they are paid on time and at the proper rate,” AG Healey said. “These workers have now been paid what they are owed.”

The AG’s Office began an investigation in March 2016 after the matter was referred to the AG’s Fair Labor Division by the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts, which alleged that Supreme Systems worked on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and did not pay some of its employees the proper prevailing wage rate for work performed within the roofer’s trade classification. 

The AG’s investigation revealed that in addition to the Holyoke Soldier’s Home project, Supreme Systems also worked on projects for Jabish Brook Middle School in Belchertown and the City of Quincy’s Snug Harbor Roofing Works project.

On all three projects, employees were misclassified and paid as laborers rather than the correct classification of roofer, which receives a higher hourly wage rate. The investigation further revealed that between January 2015 and June 2016, the company deducted unlawful fees from 15 employees for uniforms, resulting in the employees not being paid their full wages in a timely manner.

Under the Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law, contractors and subcontractors engaged in public construction projects must pay their employees a special minimum wage, which is based on the occupational classification for the type of work the employees perform.

State law also requires employers to pay most employees within six days of the end of the pay period during which the wages were earned. Supreme Systems has now stopped the practice of deducting uniform costs from employees’ wages.

AG Healey is committed to protecting the economic security of Massachusetts residents, particularly vulnerable workers. AG Healey’s Fair Labor Division is responsible for enforcing the laws regulating the payment of wages, including prevailing wage, minimum wage and overtime laws.

The AG’s Office is working with community partners, law schools, and private bar attorneys to host free monthly wage theft clinics at Suffolk Law School. These clinics are part of an effort to address wage theft and worker exploitation in Massachusetts. The goal of the clinics is to help ensure that workers get the wages and benefits they are owed. More than 70 workers have attended the first three clinics and received assistance with a range of wage theft issues. The next clinic is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. For more information on these clinics, please click here.

Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace can also call the office’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More information about the state’s wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at www.mass.gov/ago/fairlabor.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Barbara Dillon DeSouza and was investigated by Inspector Joseph W. Drzyzga, both of Attorney General Healey’s Fair Labor Division in the Western Massachusetts Regional Office.

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