Criminal charges have been lodged against US Framing West and two employees of the construction company for alleged violations of state labor laws across the Southland and elsewhere, officials said Tuesday.
The announcement follows the surrender and arraignment of the defendants in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Between 2018 and 2022, Bonta alleges, US Framing West provided framing construction for multiple projects across California using crews of unlicensed subcontractors. While working these projects, US Framing West allegedly committed grand theft, payroll tax evasion, prevailing wage theft, and filed false documents with the state.
In the 31-count complaint, Bonta alleges that the company failed to pay more than $2.5 million in state payroll taxes during this period and underpaid its workers by about $40,000 at a public works project in Cathedral City.
A representative of the Louisville-Kentucky-based company could not immediately be reached for comment.
“California has some of the strongest worker protections in the country, but there are still too many who are willing to skirt the law to make an extra buck,” Bonta said in a statement. “My office will not stand by when businesses — or the individuals who run them — steal from workers and defraud the state. I want to thank our union partners for alerting us to this case and for fighting every day to ensure good jobs, fair wages, and safe conditions for California workers.”
US Framing West is a construction company that specializes in framing contracting. The state Department of Justice investigation allegedly revealed that the company secured a number of high-paying framing jobs on large construction projects in Southern California and elsewhere, then subcontracted out the physical labor to unlicensed subcontractors, according to Bonta’s office.
Starting in 2018 and through to 2022, US Framing West is alleged to have hired numerous unlicensed contractors for projects throughout the state and failed to file and submit taxes to the California Employment Development Department for these employees, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Bonta said the investigation began after the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council alerted the DOJ to potential wage theft violations occurring at an Oakland construction project. The DOJ, with support from other state agencies, subsequently conducted a joint investigation into US Framing West for allegations relating to violations of state labor laws and tax evasion on construction projects spanning Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and other counties, the office said.