A new study has found that "wage theft" is rampant among workers in the Massachusetts construction industry.
Tom Juravich, a University of Massachusetts Amherst labor professor and the lead author of a paper detailing wage violations in the state's residential construction industry, says construction workers around the state — particularly immigrants hired by subcontractors — say they sometimes go for weeks without pay and when they do get paid, it can be less than promised. Overtime pay is virtually nonexistent.
Juravich tells The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/1zXqyXX ) the practice "has reached epidemic levels" primarily in the booming residential construction industry.
The state chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a nonunion construction trade group, acknowledged that wage violations are an issue in the industry but maintained that most companies treat workers fairly.
