Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that S.A. Taylor, LLC (“S.A. Taylor”) has agreed to settle claims under the False Claims Act and to pay $561,411.72 based on allegations that the company caused the submission of falsified payroll records as part of two United States Department of Veterans Affairs (the “VA”) construction projects.
S.A. Taylor, a Virginia-based construction company, bid on and was awarded subcontracts to work on two VA construction projects under the prime contractor, CTA, I, LLC. Because the construction work was performed for the federal government, all contractors and subcontractors were required, by law, to pay their workers prevailing wages. At the time, the prevailing wage was between $57 to $91.50 per hour, depending on the worker’s classification.
The government contends that S.A. Taylor paid its workers significantly less than the prevailing wage, but that it submitted falsified payroll records to make it seem as if the prevailing wage had been paid. CTA, unaware of the falsity, submitted the payroll to the VA which, in turn, reimbursed S.A. Taylor. Under this scheme, S.A. Taylor pocketed the difference while its workers were shorted wages they were legally due. CTA discovered the falsity during a subsequent arbitration when S.A. Taylor produced two sets of payroll records—one showing the prevailing wages which should have been paid and one showing the actual, lower wages which had actually been paid.
Continue reading at: U.S. Department of Justice
