AG: Contractors failed to properly pay workers OT wages

Townspeople attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new, $68.4 million Barrington Middle School in August, 2019. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The owners of an asbestos remediation company failed to properly pay their workers overtime for work performed at a Rhode Island middle school, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.

Thomas McCoog, 64, and Amy Franklin, 57, owners of Franklin Analytical Services based in Marion, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty to multiple misdemeanor charges and bail was set at $8,000 each, according to court records.

They did not have defense attorneys listed in court records and both were referrd to the public defender’s office.

McCoog and Franklin failed to pay prevailing overtime wages totaling at least $12,000 to five former employees for asbestos remediation work during construction work at Barrington Middle School between June and September 2019, according to a statement from Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office.

They knowingly did not pay their employees for work performed on weekends and filed a false certified payroll document with the town, authorities alleged.

Under Rhode Island law, contracts for public works awarded by government entities must pay prevailing overtime wages for work performed over 40 hours.