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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