FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT:

September 16, 2009 Harry Pierre

(617) 727-2543

ATTORNEY GENERAL MARTHA COAKLEY’S OFFICE SECURES NEARLY $22,000

IN RESTITUTION AND PENALTIES FROM NH CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR

FAILING TO PAY EMPLOYEES

BOSTON

Hampshire-based Professional Framing, LLC, for violating the Commonwealth’s wage and hour

laws by failing to pay employees in a timely manner. Pursuant to a settlement agreement,

Professional Framing will pay over $21,000 in restitution to eight employees, along with a

$1,000 fine to the Commonwealth.

In December 2007, the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division began an investigation

after receiving multiple complaints from workers alleging that they had not been paid by

Professional Framing for carpentry work performed at the Taunton Housing Authority public

works project and the North Reading Police Station Project. Certain employees also alleged that

they had not been paid for carpentry work performed at a project in New Bedford. With

assistance from the Metrowest Worker Center and Greater Boston Legal Services, investigators

from the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division conducted interviews with the workers and

discovered that the company had failed to pay employees during the period of October 2006

through September 2007, as noted in the employer’s payroll records. As a result of the

investigation, the company has agreed to pay the eight workers a total of $21,530 in restitution.

The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division is responsible for enforcing the minimum

wage and overtime laws, and the payment of wages laws in the Commonwealth. Workers who

feel that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to call the Office’s

Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More information about the state’s wage and hour laws is

also available in multiple languages at the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website

www.massworkrights.com

The matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Lisa Price and investigated by

Investigator Nuno R. Fontes Montrond, both of Attorney General Coakley’s Fair Labor Division.

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