Preventing Exploitative Work Environments - Maintaining Sweatshop-Free Homes:
Would you hire someone to work on your home and then refuse to pay them after the work was done? Of course not! But you may have done so inadvertently.
In the residential home construction industry, it has become an increasingly popular business model for construction corporations to hire ultra-cheap subcontractors to do the labor so they can offer highly competitive pricing. These subcontractors keep their prices low by neglecting health and safety standards, failing to be insured, and underpaying or not paying their workers at all. If you have unknowingly hired such a company, the work done on your home may have been stolen labor.
As the customer, you have a lot of power to help make things right.
In the residential home construction industry, it has become an increasingly popular business model for construction corporations to hire ultra-cheap subcontractors to do the labor so they can offer highly competitive pricing. These subcontractors keep their prices low by neglecting health and safety standards, failing to be insured, and underpaying or not paying their workers at all. If you have unknowingly hired such a company, the work done on your home may have been stolen labor.
As the customer, you have a lot of power to help make things right.
- Before hiring a construction company, check with the Attorney General's office and Metrowest Worker Center to see if they have a history of wage theft.
- When signing a contract with a company, tell them you know wage theft is a common occurrence in the industry and that you'll hold them accountable to ensuring that the laborers are paid for their work.
- If you find out the company hasn't paid the workers, contact Metrowest Worker Center immediately. If we contact you, the homeowner, because workers came to us after not being paid for work done on your property, let's work together to find the solution.
