Nashua Painter Sentenced for Falsifying Overtime Records

NASHUA, NH - A Nashua painter has been sentenced to six months in prison and a a $25,000 fine for falsifying information regarding his employees’ overtime work.

According to a release from the New Hampshire U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kevin Corriveau, 43, of Nashua, New Hampshire, directed the painters and carpenters of Kevin Corriveau Painting, Inc. to report only non-overtime work on payroll records and employee timecards to avoid paying the overtime premium required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to the release, the case is believed to be the first federal criminal prosecution arising from a Labor Department wage and hour investigation in New Hampshire.

“Those who make false statements or create false documents undermine the integrity of our legal system,” said United States Attorney Scott W. Murray. “The defendant’s actions here were unacceptable. Employers should be on notice that they face potential criminal penalties if they do not comply with their legal obligations under the FLSA.”

Corriveau was sentenced on Tuesday to six months in prison, after which he will be on supervised release for two years.

Corriveau pled guilty to obstruction of justice on December 15, 2017. At that time, prosecutors, said, he admitted that he concealed the extent to which employees of the company worked overtime hours, in part, by causing an employee of the company to provide false information to the Department of Labor during investigations by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division in 2009 and 2011.

In 2009 and 2011, Corriveau himself also provided false information to investigators about the extent of his employees’ overtime work. This included, in 2011, when Corriveau falsely told investigators that his employees did not work overtime on a construction project in Needham, Mass., and provided false documents to investigators to support his assertion.

In 2013, in connection with a civil suit filed against him by the Department of Labor for alleged violations of the FLSA’s overtime wage requirements, Corriveau knowingly created and provided fraudulent invoices and an altered change order to Department’s attorneys that falsely stated that his employees did not work overtime on the Needham project.

According to Peter Nozka, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the investigation uncovered over $200,000 in unpaid wages.