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Two men tied to two related siding and roofing companies have agreed with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to pay a $70,000 fine for failing to pay prevailing wages on two separate public works projects.

The fine adds to a growing pot of money that the companies, Clackamas-based K&O Construction and Aloha-based KO Construction, owe to their employees and state and federal agencies.

For the settlement, brothers Marco Antonio Rojas and Mauricio Rojas-Osornio, co-owners of K&O Construction and co-managers of KO Construction, will repay 17 employees a total of $65,000 and pay BOLI $5,000, according to the agreement. BOLI will put its money into its prevailing wage rate fund, which is used for staffing, education and outreach, Communications Director Charlie Burr said.

K&O Construction and KO Construction, which is owned by the brothers’ father, Ignacio Rojas, will be suspended from public works projects for three years. The violations occurred during a south Salem school project in 2011 and 2012, and an affordable housing project in Lane County in 2012, Burr said.

“These are very serious allegations and large numbers involved,” he said. “Our hope with this settlement is that it will direct resources back to the employees, but also keep the two companies from bidding on public projects in the future.”

The two brothers and the two companies collectively owe one employee $21,201 and another employee $11,020, according to the settlement. In one violation, the brothers misclassified an employee who should have been a carpenter making $45.07 an hour as a laborer making $32 an hour, Burr said.

Neither of the brothers could be reached for comment. The number listed for K&O Contracting was disconnected.

The settlement adds to a growing list of fines issued to K&O Construction and KO Construction. In 2012 the U.S. Department of Labor fined the companies $107,000 for failing to pay prevailing wage to 28 people, Burr said.

BOLI late last year reached a settlement agreement with K&O Construction over a civil rights-related case, fining it $45,000 for essentially interfering with a BOLI investigation and making it difficult for workers to cooperate. So far, the company’s payments toward that fine have been on time, Burr said.

Both KO Construction and K&O Contracting were placed on the list of contractors ineligible to receive public works contracts. Their ineligibility will last through April 10, 2017, according to BOLI.