Three Sons Restoration will be barred from any public works contracts for three years and will have to pay $2.75 million in fines and back pay after it allegedly stole $1.2 million from dozens of workers at six job sites over the past two years, the state Labor Department announced on Feb. 16.
The Union Township-based restoration company was contracted for six projects across the state, several of which were public contracts financed via taxpayer dollars, where they failed to pay workers the right amount or anything at all. Three Sons not be reached for comment.
“These workers are doing an honest day’s work but not getting the honest day’s pay they deserve. It is theft, and it is unlawful,” reads a Feb. 16 statement from Joseph Petrecca, assistant commissioner at the state’s Division of Wage and Hour Compliance.
Three Sons was contracted to do additions and renovations at the Maurice Hawk Elementary School in West Windsor, where 42 employees were affected by the alleged scheme, according to Angela Delli-Santi, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
David Adherhold, superintendent for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, said that the contract was with 3R Painting and Contractor, who in turn contracted Three Sons. 3R could not be reached for comment, but Adherhold said the restoration work was ultimately finished.
“The district has cooperated with NJDOL in its investigation,” he said in an email.
Additionally, Three Sons was contracted to do interior and exterior renovations at the Bayonne Fire House and roof restoration at the Jersey City Main Public Library, where the alleged scheme affected 25 and 21 employees respectively, said Delli-Santi.
Representatives for either city could not be reached for comment. Three Sons was initially ordered in August 2019 to cease any work they were doing on the Bayonne and West Windsor sites.
Four employees were affected during Three Sons’ work on bleacher replacement at the Indian Hills High School in Oakland, while two employees were affected at an exterior masonry project at the Mount Vernon Elementary School in Newark.
One employee doing construction at the Beacon Development in Newark was improperly classified, Delli-Santi said, and “may have worked at more than one site.”
William Sproule, executive secretary-treasurer at the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, called the allegations against Three Sons a “glimpse into how severe fraud is in the construction industry.”
“Workers are vulnerable to contractors like Three Sons Restoration and our Union is proud of all we do to protect workers from these practices and defending a prevailing wage in New Jersey,” Sproule continued. “The initial Stop Work Orders and additional follow-up by the [NJDOL] is a step in the right direction and we look forward to justice for more workers in the future.”
