by davis76c in Announcements, Workers' Rights
Posted on January 21, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Last Modified on February 3, 2010 at 8:25 pm
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BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has reached an agreement with five Somerville waste disposal companies, collectively known as Russell, and its corporate officers, Charles (“Chuck”) D. Carneglia, age 49, of Woburn, Kevin M. Douglas, age 54, of Reading, and Brian Langton, age 56, of Reading. Russell Disposal Inc., F.W. Russell & Sons Disposal, Inc., RDI Belmont, Inc., Langton & Douglas Contracting, Inc., F.W. Russell & Sons & Granddaughter, Inc., (aka Russell) and its three corporate officers have agreed to pay $70,000 to 352 current and former employees as well as a $20,000 penalty to the Commonwealth to resolve allegations that the company violated the Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws. In addition, Russell has agreed to a two-year monitoring and compliance plan.
In January 2008, the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division began an investigation into Russell’s payment practices after receiving complaints that Russell was improperly paying its drivers and laborers while engaged in trash collection for several Massachusetts municipalities, including Belmont, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Dracut, Lowell, Methuen, Somerville, Wakefield, Walpole and Wilmington. The Attorney General’s Office determined that Russell failed to pay drivers when they worked more than 40 hours a week. Investigators also identified significant record-keeping violations, including failing to report accurate working hours in company books and on employees’ paystubs. As a result, Russell has been cited by the Attorney General’s Office for three intentional and one unintentional violation of the Commonwealth’s wage and hour laws.
The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division is responsible for enforcing the payment of wages laws in the Commonwealth. Workers who feel that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to call the Office’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 (617) 727-3465. More information about the state’s wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website.
The matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Kate J. Fitzpatrick and Teresa Flanagan Lamarre, Investigator Leah Turney and Inspector Paul Gordon, all of Attorney General Coakley’s Fair Labor Division.
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I am very suspicious about the timing of this announcement, just days after AG Coakley’s US Senate race ended. One wonders if she didn’t delay this so as not to upset any potential supporters? Why did it take 2 years for this investigation to resolve?
Why does a company that intentionally stole from its workers get off with a slap on the wrist? The payback to employees is just under $200 per worker, that doesn’t seem like very much.
Somerville’s Aldermen just passed a 5-year contract with Russell, and only Ald. Gewirtz voted against it. I wonder if the other Aldermen feel embarrassed now?
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I am proud of Ald. Gewirtz (who is not my alderman, but what the heck) for having the nerve to ask this question and stand up to the “done deal” here. I am generally not impressed with Russell, and this only reinforces that opinion.
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