Callahan subcontractor Force Corporation was recently forced to pay more than $4,500 in back wages to three workers after being confronted by community groups about the wage theft. The workers, who installed windows and doors on a Pulte Homes project in Weymouth, said Force Corporation had not paid them in many weeks. A letter to Force and Pulte from the workers states, “our families should not have to go another day without our hard earned wages.”
This kind of behavior is commonplace for Force Corporation, who was recently fined $91,000 for OSHA violations, and whose predecessor companies were sued just last month for $1.3 million in outstanding OSHA fines and fees. Force was also the target of a Boston Globe article exploring wage theft on the CATS academy project in Braintree. Force Corporation worked for Callahan on their Pinehills Independent Living Facility in Plymouth, and is currently working on Callahan’s Assembly Row project.
Callahan was also recently caught using Lighthouse Masonry, a company whose violations are well documented by area newspapers. In 2010, the state ordered all exterior wall panels removed from the federal courthouse being constructed in Salem after a panel fell on a worker, causing serious leg injuries. DCAM later ruled that the accident was entirely due to Lighthouse Masonry using the wrong type of screw, and they were debarred for a year. Now, Lighthouse is doing the masonry work on Callahan’s “The District” project in Burlington. While we have primarily focused on Callahan’s choice in carpentry subcontractors, it is clear that it shares the same disregard for safety, quality, and workers’ rights across all trades.
The regularity with which subcontractors such as Force Corporation and Lighthouse Masonry are hired by Callahan Inc. is well documented, and should give pause to any end user considering hiring Callahan as a general contractor.
