Southampton firm fined for violating state wage laws

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON - Industrial Mechanical Insulation Corp., a local contracting company, has been ordered by Attorney General Martha Coakley to pay over $16,000 in restitution and $2,000 in fines for violating the state's wage and hours laws.

According to Harry Pierre, spokesman for Coakley's office, in February 2009 the attorney general's Fair Labor Division began an investigation into the company's employment practices after receiving complaints from employees who alleged they were working over 40 hours a week and weren't being paid the proper overtime rate.

"We first became aware of the situation when we received some complaints from their employees, who noticed that there was a problem," Pierre said.

Attempts to reach the company's president, Robert Buckingham, 55, of Easthampton, at his Valley Road office were unsuccessful Tuesday.

An audit of the company's payroll records, Pierre said, revealed that Buckingham had failed to pay 21 employees the proper overtime rate between June 2007 and February 2009 for work performed on numerous public works projects and various private jobs.

Most employers in the commonwealth are required to pay their employees time-and-a-half for any hours over 40 they work in a single week.

In addition to the overtime violations, the audit showed that the company had failed to pay the proper prevailing wage rate to two employees who performed work on the Massreco Street Fire Station project in Springfield.

The Prevailing Wage and Records Keeping Laws apply to all construction work performed on in-state public works projects. The Prevailing Wage Laws allow all contractors bidding on public works projects to enjoy a "level playing field" by standardizing the rate of pay their workers earn.

Pierre said Buckingham has already paid both the required restitution and fines.

Additional information about the wage and hour laws is available at the attorney general's Workplace Rights Web site: www.massworkrights.com.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.