BOSTON (Legal Newsline) — AK Electric Inc. and its owner, Anibal C. Alves, will pay more than $61,000 in restitution and penalties after allegedly violating the state’s prevailing wage law, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has announced.
AK Electric allegedly improperly classified and paid several workers as apprentices on a public construction project at UMass Amherst. These workers were not registered with the Massachusetts Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Division of Apprentice Standards, the state charged.
As these workers were classified as unregistered, they should have been paid at a higher prevailing wage rate in accordance with state laws.
“Companies can't cheat their workers and not pay wages to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors,” Healey said. “The enforcement of these laws is essential to making sure workers are receiving their hard-earned wages and that businesses are operating on a level playing field.”
Assistant attorney general Barbara Dillon DeSouza handled the case.