R&R Construction faces $767,095 in penalties after misclassifying 65 workers as independent contractors at a job site in Hawaii, the state’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced.
The company skirted requirements to provide unemployment, workers compensation, temporary disability and prepaid healthcare insurances by misclassifying the workers, according to the department.
And R&R’s citation comes after the Hawaii legislature raised fees for such violations.
“Legislators significantly increased the penalties for violations of workers’ compensation and temporary disability insurance laws by passing what became Act 187 just this year,” said Linda Chu Takayama, director of the department. “We believe that the increase in penalties from $1 per day to $100 for [temporary disability insurance] and worker’s compensation from $10 per day to $100 serves as a powerful incentive for employers to provide these coverages instead of just waiting till they are caught.”
R&R was working on a project at the Maile Sky Court hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii. The firm has time to appeal the citations.
