Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office announced Tuesday it filed a lawsuit against Avatar Construction Corp. in Watertown, along with owner Nazar Vincent, for underpaying workers in five construction contracts, a violation of the Massachusetts False Claims Act.
With a complaint filed to the Suffolk Superior Court on March 14, Campbell’s office said Avatar “knowingly used fraudulent payroll forms...and concealed the fact that workers were paid far less than required prevailing wage rates.”
The attorney general‘s Fair Labor Division first received a complaint about Avatar not paying the prevailing wage in June 2021. An ensuing investigation found that Avatar and subcontractor Gonza Construction, Inc., “submitted false payroll records on public projects in Cambridge, Lawrence, Stoughton and Watertown, underpaying workers by at least $171,095,” Campbell’s office said.
“The Prevailing Wage Law is crucial for ensuring that workers on public construction projects in Massachusetts receive fair and equal wages,” Campbell said in a statement. “As we push for greater economic mobility for our residents, my office will continue to firmly enforce our laws to hold businesses accountable that fail to play by the rules and exploit their workers.”
This lawsuit follows ...
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