Masonry contractor fined for underpaying workers

Masonry Services, Inc. (MSI) and its owners, James S. Herrera and Jaime T. Herrera, has been ordered to pay back wages totaling $575,000 plus $25,000 in costs for underpaying masonry workers on the St. Marks Project.
Developed under the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the St. Marks Project was a publicly funded affordable housing facility for seniors in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The St. Marks Project received public funding, triggering arequirement that workers must be paid the prevailing wage. The law requires an hourly rate for construction work performed for public agencies that is well above the state and federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, along with certain additional benefits.