SCA Sued for Not Paying Prevailing Wages in California
SAN FRANCISCO; February 23, 2023
Current street sweeper operator employees have sued Northern California's largest municipal street sweeping contractor, Contract Sweeping Services, LLC ("CSS"), and the nation's largest municipal street sweeping contractor that acquired CSS in 2021, Sweeping Corporation of America ("SCA"), for unpaid prevailing wages on dozens of public works projects throughout California.
The class action has been filed on behalf of street sweepers who have worked for CSS and SCA during the last four years in California and were paid below the legally required prevailing wage for work performed on public streets and roadways on behalf of cities and municipalities. The case is Stoner et al. v. Contract Sweeping Services, LLC et al., Case No. 23CV410973, pending in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara. The street sweepers are represented by Pelton Graham LLP, an employment law firm with offices in California and New York.
As street sweepers on public streets and roadways, working pursuant to contracts paid for in whole or in large part by public funds, these employees are responsible for alleviating dangerous road conditions for the protection and safety of the public as a whole. As a result, the lawsuit alleges that the work being performed falls squarely within the California Prevailing Wage Law's definition of "maintenance work" which requires the payment of prevailing wages.
In fact, the California Department of Industrial Relations, in a recent opinion, upheld its prior guidance from the early 2000s, confirming that street sweeping work performed pursuant to a contract with a municipality was subject to prevailing wages despite the fact that the contract itself did not require payment of prevailing wage to the street sweeper workers.
Prevailing wage law is often misunderstood as applying only to a narrow group of construction workers on job sites such as schools and government buildings. In fact, states like California, New York and New Jersey have broad definitions of who is covered by the prevailing wage laws and the kind of work that is eligible for prevailing wage pay, including routine and recurring maintenance work like that of street sweepers. Prevailing wage is not only an hourly rate, it's also fringe benefits and specific overtime and even double time rates in some instances.
For more information contact the law firm, Pelton Graham, which has represented thousands of workers in prevailing wage actions in New York and California against some of the biggest names in construction, building services and other public works, recovering millions of dollars in unpaid wages. Visit www.peltongraham.com/, send an email to info@peltongraham.com or call their toll-free line at 1-888-WRK-LWYR (888-975-5997).
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