A Queens man is facing charges in Suffolk County after allegedly failing to pay $104,000 to workers.
Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini (D) announced Aug. 19 the arrest of contractor Young Jae Kim, 67. Kim allegedly didn’t pay wages owed to workers on a capital project for the Huntington Union Free School District. The contractor and his company Tri-State Construction of New York Corp are each being charged with offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and willful failure to pay the minimum rate of wage and supplement, a violation of New York State Labor Law.
“People deserve to be paid for the work they do; it’s that simple,” Sini said. “Not only were these defendants allegedly shortchanging their employees, but they were doing so on the public’s payroll. This is unacceptable. I thank the members of my office’s Financial Investigations & Money Laundering Bureau for continuing to investigate and prosecute labor crimes like these and to make sure Suffolk County workers are being paid their fair share.”
According to the district attorney’s office, approximately from late June 2018 to Aug. 11 in the same year, the defendants were employed on a District-wide Capital Improvement Project for the Huntington Union Free School District. During this time, the defendants allegedly submitted certified payrolls to the school district that indicated a failure to pay workers any supplement benefits and overtime as required for working more than 40 hours in a workweek. An investigation revealed evidence that the defendants allegedly failed to pay 11 employees a total of $104,000 in prevailing wage supplements and overtime.
The defendants also allegedly filed false NYS-45 quarterly wage reporting forms to the New York State Department of Labor, underreporting wages to avoid paying Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions.
Kim surrendered to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office Aug. 19 and was given a desk appearance ticket. He will be arraigned Sept. 8. If convicted of the top count, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of one 1/3 to four years in prison.
Requests for comments from Kim’s Bayside-based attorney Patrick McIlwain were not returned.
