Construction Firm Banned From Working In WA, Fined For Wage Dues

BONNEY LAKE, WA — For committing wage violations and falsifying payroll records, a Bonney Lake-based construction firm and its owner have been permanently banned from either bidding or working on projects in any part of Washington. The state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced its decision Tuesday.

According to an L&I spokesperson, I&C Northwest owner Jim Lingnaw will pay more than $200,000 in back wages and penalties for violations confirmed by the state; the fine includes $153,000 in unpaid wages alone meant for nine employees who helped complete several of the 14 school and warehouse projects undertaken by I&C Northwest between 2015-16.

I&C Northwest reportedly specialized in pipe and duct insulation work, which it performed for schools in the Bellevue, Clover Park, Mercer Island, North Thurston, Tacoma, Tahoma, Tumwater, Seattle, and Snoqualmie Valley school districts.

"The citations are based on I&C's repeated wage violations despite L&I's efforts to educate the company on following the prevailing wage law,"L&I Prevailing Wage Program Manager Jim Christensen said in a statement. "We've been investigating the company since 2014."

L&I in 2016 reportedly issued its first citation to I&C for unpaid wages and falsely reporting payroll records. In October 2017 the state ordered the company to pay $210,000 in back wages and another $218,000 in fines. It's unclear whether the back wage dues were owed to the same employees.

The News Tribune in 2017 reported Lingnaw as citing his own payroll-keeping methods as the source of his troubles.

Lingnaw reportedly told News Tribune reporters at the time that his employees often worked private and public jobs in the same week, both of which require different forms of hourly work documentation and pay. Lingnaw said he wasn't clear on how to differentiate the two rates of pay clearly.

"Realistically I can't (disprove L&I's findings) because of how I did my payroll," he told The News Tribune.

L&I officials, however, don't see Lingnaw's mistake as nearly so innocent.

"I&C is one of the worst examples of a contractor taking advantage of workers, public agencies, taxpayers, and fellow contractors," Christensen said. "It is a privilege to build public works projects, not a way to collect taxpayers' money and stiff workers on the wages they're owed."

(Sign up for our free daily newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Bonney Lake-Sumner Patch)

Image via Shutterstock