A janitorial contractor in business since 2001 has been banned for life from working public projects in Oregon due to wage and hour violations.

Cornerstone Janitorial Service, and its owner, Sang Nam, were turned in for failing to pay workers prevailing wage by their general contractor on several projects, Hoffman Construction.

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said though it’s usually the workers themselves who file complaints, it’s not unusual for contractors to seek to “level the playing field” by reporting competitors who are bad actors.

“Sounds like justice has been served,” said Hoffman executive vice president Bart Eberwein.

What is unusual is the lifetime ban, which exceeds the statutory limit in Oregon of three years. BOLI was able to secure the ban in the settlement process, by lowering civic penalties.

“In our minds, there were so many workers involved and such clear evidence that Cornerstone was intent on violating the law, and the acts were just so flagrant, that we believed that a lifetime ban from public projects was necessary to protect taxpayers and future workers,” Avakian said.

It’s only the second lifetime ban in BOLI’s history – the other was in 2000.

Nam has already paid back wages to the 46 employees he underpaid for a number of taxpayer-funded projects in 2013, including several for Portland Community College. The workers performed jobsite cleanup for which they should have been paid $36 per hour, but were instead paid $12.

“Oftentimes when you’re dealing with entry-level jobs and a more vulnerable workforce, it can be easier for a disreputable employer to take advantage of that,” Avakian said.

Cornerstone is still allowed to work private projects in Oregon. The firm had an active Oregon business license as of this week.

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A Portland-area flagging company operator was ordered to pay $79,000 for withholding pay to his employees, an administrative law judge with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries ruled last week.

In the order, four companies operated by Evan Williams – Portland Flagging, A D Traffic Control Services and Tri-Star Flagging – were assessed civil penalties. Three of the four were fined for failure to pay prevailing wage on the Sellwood Bridge project.

Additionally, Williams was ordered to be placed on the list of people ineligible to receive public contracts for three years.

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian admitted three years isn’t long given Williams’ history of violations.

“That’s the maximum penalty allowable under the statute,” he said.

Though many of the violations took place during the Sellwood Bridge project dating to 2010, scrutiny against Williams has intensified in recent years as employees have come forward to report unlawful practices. Avakian earlier this year filed a complaint alleging retaliation, threats of physical violence and other unlawful practices.

The final order, issued last week, included 36 instances of failure to pay prevailing wage rates, 52 instances of filing inaccurate statements, one of failing to file certified statements and five instances of unlawful deductions from paychecks.

As to where the $79,000 fine will go once paid, BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said the bureau applies civil penalties to its prevailing wage enforcement costs. Any remainder goes to the state treasurer’s office. Additionally, all wages recovered are directed to affected workers, Burr said.

Under last week’s order issued by BOLI deputy director Christie Hammond (presiding because Avakian filed the initial complaint), Williams has 60 days to file an appeal with the state Court of Appeals. If that’s unsuccessful, the last step would be an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Williams, who at points represented himself in BOLI’s quasi-judicial proceedings, told the 91��Ƶ that Avakian was a “puppet of the labor unions.”

“It’s my job to protect every worker in Oregon, regardless of whether or not they are in a union,” Avakian told the 91��Ƶ.

Avakian has been an outspoken and ambitious BOLI director, waging aggressive campaigns against wage theft and other misconduct, and supporting efforts to increase career training in schools. Last year, he oversaw a high-profile discrimination case against a Gresham bakery that refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple.

Avakian is the democratic candidate for Oregon secretary of state in the November election. His opponent is former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dennis Richardson.

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An Oregon City flagging company owner threatened his whistle-blowing workers with violence, according to a complaint filed last week by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

The Bureau of Labor and Industries claims Evan Williams fired employees as retaliation for revealing wrongdoing by his company, and prevented other employees from doing the same, among other alleged unlawful business practices.

Williams is connected to corporate entities named Tri-Star Flagging LLC, A D Traffic Control LLC, Portland Flagging and others.

“There’s a whole list of names that are essentially the same company,” BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said. “And several of them have already been placed on the debarment list.”

The matter will now move through BOLI’s bureaucracy – going first to the civil rights division, where investigators will look for “substantial evidence.” If found, the parties would have another opportunity to settle in a conciliation phase. If no agreement is reached, BOLI’s administrative prosecution unit would look to bring the case before one of BOLI’s administrative law judges. The judge could send a final order to the labor commissioner. In this instance, because it was Avakian who filed the initial complaint, the order would go to BOLI’s second-in-command, deputy director Christie Hammond.

BOLI has already recovered $104,000 in fringe benefit wages for 37 Tri-Star employees who worked on the Sellwood Bridge replacement project.

Another BOLI decision against Williams is pending; the agency late last year sought $94,000 in penalties for failure to fully pay workers on the bridge project, as well as intentional filing of inaccurate payroll records. BOLI added Tri-Star to the list of businesses ineligible to work on public projects in Oregon.

Burr said most investigations of this nature last between four and six months. BOLI is statutorily obligated to finish them within one year.

Avakian, Oregon’s labor commissioner since 2008, has now filed eight civil rights complaints.

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The owner of a Lake Oswego apartment complex has settled a discrimination claim stemming from an incident in which a man died. Prometheus Real Estate Group, a multifamily property management company with offices in Portland and Seattle, has agreed to pay $475,000.

On Feb. 8, 2012, James Calogridis, a resident at the One Jefferson apartments, died a little more than a week after sustaining “significant injuries” in a fall in the complex’s parking lot, according to a news release from Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Robin Buckley, Calogridis’ widow, in 2012 filed with BOLI a civil rights complaint alleging disability discrimination. She claimed that the property owners failed to provide a reasonable disability accommodation.

Buckley claimed that Calogridis in October 2011 requested a disabled parking spot closer to the couple’s unit because of a condition that limited his ability to walk.

BOLI’s investigation determined that Prometheus Real Estate Group unlawfully discriminated against Calogridis by failing to make reasonable accommodations for his disability.

“Oregonians with disabilities deserve equal access to housing, including reasonable accommodations,” Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said. “Our agency is committed to conducting thorough investigations and working closely with agency partners so that the civil rights of Oregonians are protected.”

In addition to the financial payment – which will be split between Buckley, the Calogridis estate and Calogridis’ attorneys – the owners agreed to comply with the Oregon Fair Housing Act and the federal Fair Housing Act, provide BOLI with a list of other Prometheus-owned or managed properties, report any ownership changes to BOLI for three years, conduct annual FHA trainings with employees, maintain a “reasonable accommodation” log for submission to BOLI on a semi-annual basis, provide BOLI with its policies and practices for reasonably accommodating tenants’ disabilities and notify all tenants of all Prometheus properties of their rights to reasonable accommodations.

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Brad Avakian, commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, said he learned a lot from wood- and metalworking classes of his youth.

“Enough so that when I was in college I worked construction for part of the time helping to work my way through college, and I think the exposure of that at a younger age is one of the reasons I pointed myself that way,” he said.

Now, Avakian is leading the charge to revitalize career and technical education programs in Oregon’s secondary schools. During the 2011 legislative session, he helped push through , which provided $2 million in grant money to jump-start the CTE classes.

Then the Legislature put the funding on hold because of compounded budget constraints. But Avakian said trade-oriented classes are a necessary part of public education and that he intends to lobby legislators this month to release the grant money.

The CTE classes are essential for providing the state a skilled and ready workforce, according to Avakian. He said that a little over a decade ago, young adults seeking apprenticeships in technical trades were approximately 19 years old; now they’re 26. In addition, he said community college officials are telling him that some students are requiring up to a year of remedial classes before they can start career education.

But there is another reason, Avakian said, why CTE classes are needed.

“… For the kids that are not going to go into a particular profession that is taught in school, it keeps kids interested in school and it gives them a life experience that they never would have had otherwise,” he said. “And that’s why you see the high school drop-out rates much, much lower for kids that are involved in these kinds of programs.”

According to a 2005 study by the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, “a CTE-to-academic-credit ratio of approximately one to two was estimated to minimize the risk of dropping out,” and a recommendation was made that schools arrange schedules to accommodate that ratio. Also, 90 to 96 percent of the nation’s high school graduates took at least one CTE class during high school, according to the report.

Brian Krieg, president of marketing firm , has campaigned for shop class for the past six years. He represents industry trade groups like the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association, the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association and Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 16.

Krieg said unions and private business owners alike have expressed concerns about how they will replace baby boomers when they retire. He said part of the problem is a false dialogue that is prolific in schools.

“The kids don’t see a career for themselves,” he said. “They’re being told go to college or you’re a failure. Go to college or you can flip burgers – there’s nothing in between there, when the fact is you have great trade careers out there, whether you’re a plumber or electrician.”

Krieg said some trade jobs actually pay more than what average college graduates make. According to the United States Census Bureau, the median income for a high school graduate in Oregon is $24,147. For a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree, it’s $41,884. For a high school graduate in construction, repair and maintenance trades, the range is between approximately $30,000 and $38,000.

But Avakian said it is not uncommon for a senior electrician to make upward of $90,000 to $100,000 a year.

“That is a great way for some young people to get into a career that will enable them to raise a family, save a little money for retirement, pay for health care and education,” he said. “And I do know that a lot of college graduates are struggling to find a job anywhere.”

Rep. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, has supported HB 3362 and CTE programs. The Portland Community College English professor has 30 years of teaching experience. He said CTE programs are important because they help students apply subjects like math and science outside of classrooms.

“I’ve always been a book sort of person,” Dembrow said. “I’ve always felt comfortable learning that way, but a lot of my friends in high school … would have been lost if they didn’t have shop classes.”

This month the Legislature will decide whether to release the money it froze last year so that CTE programs can get rolling.

Dembrow said he believes that at worst, the $2 million in grant money will be subject to the 3.5 percent cut the state is recommending for all education programs. That amounts to a loss of $70,000 – or roughly one program, he said.

He said legislators expect to have a clear sense of what to expect come Feb. 8, when the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis releases its state revenue forecast. In the meantime, they’re seeking letters of intent, due Feb. 10, from school districts interested in offering CTE programs.

One of the requirements is that schools must partner with other organizations, colleges or businesses so that programs can be self-sustaining and not completely reliant on seed money. Krieg said that’s a vital piece because many schools simply aren’t set up to go it alone.

“In some cases, we have high schools that have been built in the last decade that don’t have shop class space in them,” he said. “It wasn’t even part of the design concept.”

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A bill that will put some money behind career and technical education programs in Oregon passed both houses of the state legislature this week and is on its way to the governor’s desk.

establishes a $2 million grant pool for career and technical education classes and pre-apprenticeship programs and modifies state policy to make it easier to form ACE Academy-like public charter schools.

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian was a major force behind the bill, which is part of his 10-year plan to institute CTE programs in every middle school and high school in the state.

“The legislature’s reinvestment in CTE at this critical time will help build the competitive workforce that Oregon needs for a thriving economy in coming years,” Avakian said in a statement following the bill’s passage Tuesday.

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Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian wants a career education program in every middle school and high school in the state within the next decade. , expected to be passed this legislative session, is a step toward instituting some of those programs. The bill has support from industry groups and legislators, as well as educators and parents, according to Avakian. He is hoping that these groups will provide new grounding in Oregon.

“We were the national leader in career education 15 years ago, and we let it slip through our fingers,” Avakian said. He referred to what he called a “perfect storm” created by 1990’s Measure 5, which limited tax funding for education, and the No Child Left Behind Act, which did not emphasize career education.

“That change in policy and in money led most of the districts around the state to begin systematically removing these programs,” Avakian said.

In today’s tight budget environment, funding continues to be a challenge for career education. HB 3362 would create a $2 million grant program for career and technical education classes and pre-apprenticeship programs, and change policies that have created bureaucratic barriers that impede creation of ACE Academy-like charter schools and skill centers.

However, the programs need money – and students, industry professionals noted.

“Part of this will be working on the sea change of cultural expectations for young people,” said John Littel, political director for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. He said they are frequently steered toward four-year colleges by teachers and parents. “We need to get parents in Oregon to see we’re trying to create real opportunities and provide high-wage jobs for young people.”

“There will be no trouble getting industry on board,” said John Rakowitz, public affairs director for the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. “There are industries, like ours, (that) want to make these investments, but you have to find these students first.”

Facing an aging workforce and expected growth after an economic recovery, representatives of industries and trades are looking to recruit more young people, Rakowitz said. Pre-apprenticeship programs can create direct pipelines to employment, and in-school training can raise awareness of the types of careers available without a four-year degree, he said.

Avakian hopes career and technical education will proliferate statewide, but programs are likely to grow one by one. They work best when tailored to specific communities, said Bob Estabrook, a BOLI spokesman.

“Whatever form (career and technical education) is going to take – whether it’s in a school, through a charter school or something else – will depend on what kind of community you’re dealing with,” Estabrook said.

He cited a pre-apprenticeship program in Tillamook County that partners specific employers with schools so that students can be trained in specific skills required for local careers.

“The way that we have created our existing programs is to find one person – in Tillamook it was someone at the school district – to bring together key employers and the school district to get those conversations going,” Estabrook said.

The Tillamook program, one of fewer than 10 in the state, resulted in 136 students being trained last year. Seventeen additional students were registered youth apprentices; financial conditions constrained participation, Estabrook said.

“We’ve been able to get those (programs) going with no state support. HB 3362 will be a huge boost to that effort,” Estabrook said.

Specific youth apprenticeship programs will be eligible for grants from the $2 million pool. A model at Reynolds High School, for example, offers career and technical education for a variety of trades at the public school facility. Littel calls the program a “best practice.”

“The students there are serious. They know what they want, and they’re training for it,” he said.

For larger school districts or areas with greater density, Rakowitz says he is hoping to replicate programs like the ACE Academy charter school, which can serve students from one or multiple districts in hands-on situations. Rakowitz said that ACE Academy demonstrates industries’ willingness to support education programs, when opportunities are presented.

Models will be eligible for grant funding through HB 3362, which Avakian said he is “very confident” will pass before the legislative session wraps up. The bill is co-sponsored by 59 legislators and is “on the priority list for every caucus in the building,” he said.

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Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has announced rate survey contractors fill out each year.

Avakian had been weighing the recommendations �Ǵ���Prevailing Wage Advisory Committee leading up to the announcement.

The changes get rid of the “peak week” that was used for setting prevailing wages and eliminate the need for certain trades in certain areas to fill out surveys.

Instead of compiling data from a single week, the new survey will collect data from four predetermined weeks.

Another change assumes that trades in regions that have prevailed for at least three consecutive years will continue to prevail, unless the commissioner receives evidence that something has changed.

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Oregon’s labor commissioner wants to make the annual surveys used to set prevailing wage rates easier for contractors and more accurate. Commissioner Brad Avakian, the head of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, is responsible for setting prevailing wages for the construction industry.

The Prevailing Wage Advisory Committee, which advises Avakian, spent 2009 looking at the survey that contractors are required to fill out each year. Avakian will consider the committee’s recommendations in the coming weeks as he looks at overhauling the survey.

The survey helps the commissioner determine, for each region, whether the union wage rate for each trade should be the prevailing wage. If more than half of the hours worked are union hours, the region prevails.

Certain regions and trades are so dominated by union labor that the surveys are unnecessary, Avakian said. “Where trades have prevailed three years in a row, we would exempt them from the survey,” he said. “We’d just assume they prevail unless somebody provides substantial evidence that something has changed.”

Such a change could reduce a quarter to a third of the data BOLI needs to collect and process, Avakian said.

It also would make it easier on the companies who fill out the surveys, said Donald Kool, co-chairman of the Prevailing Wage Advisory Committee.

The example the committee kept returning to was that of electricians in Multnomah County. The union wage clearly prevails in the region, Kool said. “It seemed redundant and unnecessary,” he said.

“Why would we waste time in completing the survey when it’s always prevailed and it always will prevail?”

Even non-union advocates would accept that change. “We don’t have a lot of heartache over that,” said John Killin, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors Pacific Northwest Chapter.

Killin said his main concern is that rules be put in place standardizing the type of evidence the commissioner will use to consider whether a market has changed. “The problem is, what if five years down the line things have changed, and the next labor commissioner says, ‘I’m just not going to check?’ ”

Avakian said he will probably scrap the survey’s unpopular means of collecting data: the peak week. Contractors report data from the single week in which they had the most labor hours on construction projects.

“Nobody likes peak week,” Avakian said. “It’s not a valid representation of what happens everywhere in the state.”

The advisory committee found that the peak week methodology was so flawed that it recommended not sending out new surveys until it was resolved, Kool said. Avakian agreed and postponed the 2009 survey.

The committee offered a broad range of alternatives to the peak-week method. Those range from collecting data for every week of the year to collecting no data at all and just using information gathered by other agencies.

Avakian said he’s considering something in between those extremes: picking one week in advance from each quarter and using those data. That wouldn’t make things easier for contractors, he said, but other possible changes would.

One of those would be to send surveys only to a statistically valid sample of companies instead of everyone. That would let some contractors off the hook for that year.

While changes to simplify the survey could come soon, improving the quality of data gathered could take longer, Avakian said. He wants to act on the committee recommendation to create an audit process that would verify the accuracy of information that contractors provide.

“There needs to be a system of checks to make sure the information is real,” Avakian said.

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Oregon’s first-in-the-nation law banning employers from holding mandatory meetings to head off unionizing drives is being challenged in federal court. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a state law prohibiting employers from retaliating against workers who refuses to participate in meetings that don’t directly pertain to their jobs.

In party-line votes last June, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 519, which was introduced on behalf of the Oregon AFL-CIO. The law, which Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed June 30, specifically prohibits an employer from punishing a worker “who declines to attend (a) meeting or participate in communication concerning employer’s opinion about religious or political matters.”

The Associated Oregon Industries and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed the lawsuit in federal court, claiming the law, which would go into effect Jan. 1, would conflict with employers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The lawsuit seeks preliminary injunction to keep the law from taking effect.

Scott Oborne, managing partner of the Portland office of Jackson Lewis, said federal free speech protections preempt Oregon’s law. The National Labor Relations Board has recognized that employers have a wide range of acceptable speech in the workplace, he said.

“You can’t interrogate employees about their views, or promise them certain benefits if they don’t join a union,” Oborne said. “Outside of that contact, you can lobby, persuade or cajole them.”

Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, said the Oregon law doesn’t tread on federally protected speech rights.

“It doesn’t prohibit employers’ right to talk to workers on any topic under the sun,” he said. “What we are saying is you can’t force a worker to sit through meetings on subjects that don’t directly pertain to their jobs, particularly religion, politics and union organizing.”

In the construction industry, union organizing drives are typically top-down, said Bob Shiprack, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council. That is, contractors themselves sign an agreement with the unions.

Bottom-up organizing, in which employees themselves seek to form or join a union, is uncommon, Shiprack said. “But you do have instances where there’s harassment, where workers are talking about joining a union and the employer gets wind of it and outright threatens them.

“They say, ‘You’ll lose your job and never work again,'” he added. “In a small industry you can do that. If you say a guy’s a troublemaker, contractors do talk to one another.”

Although Oregon’s law hasn’t yet taken effect, Oborne said it isn’t necessary to show someone has been harmed by the law to challenge it in court.

“We need to show there’s some danger of irreparable harm,” Oborne said. “Here, the specter of enforcement by the labor commissioner will cause employers to alter their communication.”

The lawsuit names Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 296. An Avakian spokesman declined comment and the laborers local could not be reached for comment.

Oborne said employers to compel employees to go to meetings because they could otherwise be overly influenced by vocal pro-union coworkers. “If the meetings are voluntary, those employees would be very boisterous and say, ‘Hell no! I’m not attending,’ and exert serious pressure on those (employees who are) on the fence.”

Chamberlain agreed that there could be pressure on employees, but he said it’s most likely to come from superiors.

“I don’t know of any Oregonians who would be swayed this way,” he said. “I don’t know what power a coworker has versus that of an employer.”

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