Cardoso Construction has agreed to pay more than $730,000 to settle allegations from the State Department of Labor and Training.
The deal includes back pay for workers who were misclassified as independent contractors. State officials said they discovered the violations during a drywall job at the University of Rhode Island.
According to DLT, the company Cardoso Construction was skirting the law, by paying workers as independent contractors, when they should have been characterized as “employees.” An independent contractor costs less than a regular employee because they don’t receive certain benefits, such as unemployment insurance and overtime pay.
Under the settlement, Cardoso Contsruction will pay more than $350,000 in back wages to the workers and the same amount plus a fine to the state for mischaracterizing the employees.
Governor Gina Raimondo’s office touted the settlement as the first major action from a new division created to crackdown on labor law violations.
