Sacramento contractor makes $385,000 settlement over wages

A Sacramento electrical contractor agreed to pay $385,000 in back pay to settle an investigation into its alleged failure to pay prevailing wages, the federal government announced Thursday.

Harold E. Nutter & Son Inc. will pay 58 workers a total of $385,000 and has agreed to comply with prevailing wages laws on future contracts, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

The department said Nutter failed to pay prevailing wages on seven federally funded construction projects, six in California and one in Washington state. Because the contracts were federally funded, the Davis-Bacon Act required all contractors and subcontractors to pay so-called prevailing wages, a threshold determined by the department on a community-by-community basis.

“Contractors are required to pay the going rate in that community,” said Rick Newton, director of the department’s wage and hour division in Sacramento.

The investigation stemmed from Nutter’s work on the Napa Valley Wine Train relocation project; a project at Folsom Dam; three projects at Beale Air Force Base; and construction work at two military installations, Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert and an Armed Forces reserve center in Vancouver, Wash. Newton said the contracts were completed several years ago.

Besides failing to pay prevailing wages, the contractor also violated terms of an apprenticeship training program. Nutter improperly charged training costs to the journeymen employees on the projects, and failed to enroll the apprentices in a health insurance plan, the government said.

Officials with the Nutter firm weren’t immediately available for comment.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 9:29 AM with the headline "Sacramento contractor makes $385,000 settlement over wages."