On January 13, 2015, an employee of Safety Signs Inc. and Safety Signs, LLC (collectively “Safety Signs”) filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Minnesota seeking overtime and prevailing wage pay. The case was filed on behalf of pavement marking and traffic control laborers who worked for Safety Signs at job sites across Minnesota during the past three years. The complaint asserts that Safety Signs: (1) calculated overtime worked on projects financed in whole or part by state funds at an hourly rate set by Safety Signs rather than the basic hourly rate set by state prevailing wage law; (2) applied the wrong labor code when calculating prevailing and overtime wages; (3) failed to include all time at the jobsite as hours worked when calculating prevailing and overtime wages; and (4) unlawfully deducted administrative fees from employee fringe benefits. The complaint asserts that the Minnesota Department of Transportation found Safety Signs to be in violation of prevailing wage laws multiple times.
Safety Signs is a Minnesota company specializing in providing signage and traffic control for construction projects that need lane closures and/or traffic rerouted. A predominant percentage of Safety Signs’ work comes from contracts with the state of Minnesota. Plaintiff’s attorney Michele Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP stated, “The prevailing wage law requires that laborers working on construction projects involving state funding must be paid a prevailing wage set by law. This law prevents local wage standards from being undercut by low bidders trying to import cheap labor to save money. When companies contract for state-funded work, they promise to pay their workers prevailing wages, and the law holds them accountable when they do not.” Plaintiffs are represented by Michele R. Fisher and Brittany B. Skemp from Nichols Kaster, PLLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The case is entitled, Seipel v. Safety Signs Inc. et al, No.: 0:15-cv-00071 (District of Minnesota). Additional information about how to make a claim in the case may be found at www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP toll free at (877) 344-4628.