Wareham Paving Company Cited $1.2 Million For Not Paying Workers

WEYMOUTH, MA — A Wareham-based company and its owners have been cited more than $1.2 million in restitution and penalties over claims that say they did not pay employees properly and failed to give accurate payroll records, Attorney General Maura Healey said Wednesday.

Rochester Bituminous Products, Inc., and its President, Thomas Russo, Manager, Albert Todesca, and Treasurer, Michael P. Todesca, were issued 25 citations from the AG's Office for failing to pay prevailing wages to employees on various public projects, and for failing to submit real certified payroll records on a weekly basis.

These projects included work for the City of Boston, the Town of Mattapoisett, and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission.

The AG's Office is seeking penalties from Rochester Bituminous - a company that calls itself "honest" on its website while specializing in asphalt installation, through the citations - demanding restitutution for 22 employees who were underpaid by more than $30 an hour, and for its violations of state and labor laws.

After receiving several complaints from past and present workers of the company, the AG's Fair Labor Division began an investigation into Rochester Bituminous in 2019 to find out if they were paying their workers the proper prevailing wage for paving work done for the City of Boston.

To conduct the investigation, the AG's Office issued payroll demands to Rochester Bituminous, requesting certified payroll and timekeeping records. A request was also made to turn over certified payroll records, submitted by Rochester Bituminous to several awarding authorities such as the City of Boston, Town of Mattapoisett, Plymouth, Abington, Canton, Weymouth, Bridgewater and Sharon, and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission, all of whom Rochester Bituminous performed work for.

On numerous occasions, prosecutors say Rochester Bituminous failed to furnish the records requested or produced records that had missing documents, some of which were incomplete or contained errors or omissions.

Despite the missing documentation, investigators were able to find out that 22 workers were underpaid by about $30 an hour for work performed on public works projects and were owed restitution. Under state laws, employers that engage in public projects must pay their employees prevailing wages which is a special minimum wage rate.

"Companies have an obligation to pay their workers the wages they've earned," said AG Healey in a statement. "We are issuing these citations to secure relief for workers who were cheated by this company's illegal practices."

Patch has reached out to Rochester Bituminous for comment and will update this story when we hear back from them.

Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to file a complaint here.