Builders Of Harlem Senior Housing Complex Stole Worker Wages: DA

EAST HARLEM, NY — A construction company that was hired as a subcontractor on a project to convert an East Harlem medical dormitory into an affordable housing complex for seniors is facing charges for stealing workers' wages and scamming the state insurance fund, Manhattan prosecutors announced.

CRV Precast Construction, LLC and six of its top employees were indictment on charges of insurance fraud, grand larceny, filing false information, and scheming to defraud, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., said this week.

The construction company was hired in 2016 as a subcontractor in charge of building the steel framework for a new affordable housing complex for senior citizens on First Avenue and East 99th Street. The development replaced an old medical dormitory called Draper Hall.

CRV was required to hire skilled iron workers but misclassified workers' skill levels in order to pay them less than they deserved, prosecutors said. By classifying four iron workers as less-skilled concrete laborers the construction company was able to steal about $40,000 from the workers, prosecutors said. When the iron workers complained of the low wages they were told they could quit or accept the payment, prosecutors said.

The perpetrators of the wage theft scheme include CRV's owner Luis Rivera, operating manager Thomas Carrol and his son Timothy Carrol, field superintendent Donna Morris, payroll administrator Linda Doppler and company comptroller Frank Valentino, prosecutors said.

The re-development of Draper Hall was a federally-funded project.

CRV also lied to state insurance agencies to avoid paying $410,000 in insurance premiums for its workers, prosecutors said. The construction company filed false information about its payroll with the New York State Insurance Fund and misclassified iron workers as concrete laborers to avoid paying the premiums. The company even classified an iron worker who had died at a work site in Queens as a concrete laborer, prosecutors said. Concrete laborers are insured at a lower risk factor than iron workers.

"Time and again, we’ve seen how wage theft is symptomatic of an overall disregard for workers’ wellbeing: On worksites where companies regularly defraud their employees, we have also seen them playing fast and loose with their workers’ lives and safety," Vance said in a statement.

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