Company Pleads Guilty To Wage Scheme Involving School Projects: DA

MINEOLA, NY — A Suffolk County-based asbestos removal and demolition labor company pleaded guilty for failing to pay more than $80,000 in wages owed for public work projects in the Merrick and Oceanside Union Free School Districts, prosecutors said.

BJA Renovations Corp., located in North Babylon, and Joseph Demasco, 67, a manager at the company, pleaded guilty on Friday to failure to pay the prevailing wage (an E felony). BJA Renovations Corp. also pleaded guilty to first-degree falsifying business records, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. Both charges are felonies.

The company and its president also pleaded guilty to falsifying Unemployment Insurance Contribution returns with New York State, resulting in a shortfall to the State’s Unemployment Insurance coffers of more than $60,000, Donnelly said.

The guilty plea requires Demasco to pay restitution jointly and severally with BJA Renovations totaling $81,592 for the prevailing wage charges and $63,036 for the falsification of the Unemployment Insurance Contribution returns. Demasco and BJA Renovations Corp. face debarment for five years, which will prohibit him and the company from working on New York State Public Work contracts during that period of time, prosecutors said.

Between June and November 2019, BJA Renovations Corp. performed work on public work projects at the Merrick Union Free School District as a subcontractor at the Birch School, Roland A. Chatterton School and Norman J. Levy Lakeside School. The pay rate recorded on the payroll records was $44.00 per hour for Hazardous Construction Laborer and $37.44 for a Construction Laborer. The prevailing wage rate under New York State Labor laws during this time period for a Hazardous Material Laborer was $52.70 per hour in wages and benefits and $68.96 per hour in wages and benefits for a Construction Laborer, Donnelly said.

Additionally, between June and September 2021, the company performed work on a project at the Oceanside Union Free School District, specifically at Oceanside High School. Payroll records filed were at a $44.00 per hour rate for Hazardous Construction Laborers and $37.44 an hour for Construction Laborers. However, the correct prevailing wage rate under New York State Labor Laws during this time period for a Hazardous Material Laborer was $52.70 per hour in wages and benefits and $74.70 per hour in wages and benefits for a Construction Laborer, prosecutors said.

“We do not tolerate companies that exploit their employees or deceive the public. BJA Renovations Corp. and its leaders shortchanged hardworking people when they should have made sure that they were paid fairly,” said Donnelly. “These very employees showed up day in and day out, putting their health and safety at risk, only to be denied the wages and benefits they were entitled to.”

Demasco is expected to be sentenced to up to three years in prison on May 14, Donnelly said.

If he pays $25,000 in restitution by the time of sentencing, his sentence will be reduced to six months’ incarceration and five years’ probation, with the remainder of the restitution to be paid through probation.

Patch attempted to reach Robert Schaulk, the attorney who represents BJA Renovations and Demasco