SUFFOLK, VA – A Suffolk construction staffing agency and its owner who intentionally misclassified workers as independent contractors – a serious form of wage theft – must pay $278,073, in back wages and liquidated damages to 208 construction workers following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.
On Sept. 14, 2022, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia entered a consent judgment that orders Resto Contracting LLC and owner, Bethany B. Resto, to pay $139,036, in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers.
The action follows a finding by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that the company and its owner hired workers – as finishers, loaders, operators and carpenters – and then illegally misclassified them as independent contractors. Resto Contracting and Resto then paid them straight time for all hours, including those over 40 in a workweek in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. By doing so, Resto Contracting and Resto denied workers the required overtime pay rate. They also failed to maintain accurate records of hours their employees worked.
“Misclassification by employers is a widespread problem that denies workers’ rights to full wages and other protections and benefits,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Roberto Melendez in Richmond, Virginia. “In this case, Resto Contracting LLC and its owner blatantly disregarded the law and...
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