(NEW YORK CITY) - In May 2018, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. announced the indictment of Parkside Construction, a concrete contractor that had worked on several extremely expensive Manhattan apartment buildings and hotels, on felony charges of grand larceny and business fraud.

Vance told reporters the company, which was accused of cheating more than 500 Workers out of $1.7 million in pay and evading $7.8 million in Workers’ Compensation Premiums, represented a business model that was “pervasive” in the Construction Industry.

But late last month, Parkside co-owners Salvatore and Francesco Pugliese quietly cut a plea bargain.

In a deal announced in late February, the brothers pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, a Class C felony, for providing false payroll information to the New York State Insurance Fund, “intentionally underreporting” the company’s payroll from 2014 to 2017 in order to pay less for Workers’ Compensation coverage.

The two received a conditional discharge with orders to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the insurance fund - but no jail time or restitution to the Workers was required.

District Council of Carpenters Executive Director Eddie McWilliams told LaborPress: “It’s a slap on the wrist. It’s absolutely unbelievable that Cy Vance and the Manhattan DA let these guys go with no jail time.”

The message the deal sends, he added, is that “it’s OK to steal Workers’ wages and use that as a business model.”

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: Concrete Contractors Avoid Jail After Multimillion-Dollar Wage Fraud – LaborPress