Three Sheet Metal Workers Settle Wage Theft Claims Against Hamel Builders and Clemons Builders

Three sheet metal workers have resolved their claims against Hamel Builders, Inc. and Clemons Builders for a total of $160,000. In July 2022, plaintiffs filed a complaint in DC Superior court alleging that during the summer of 2021 they had been hired to install air handlers, connect flex ducts, install fans in bathrooms, and insulate ducts on the Spring Flats affordable housing project located at 3700 10th Street NW in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 4. The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development awarded the Spring Flats redevelopment in Petworth to Victory Housing, Brinshore Development, and Banc of America Community Development Corporation in August of 2017. Hamel Builders, Inc. was the project's general contractor, and Clemons Builders was Hamel Builders' HVAC subcontractor. Although construction of Spring Flats was subject to Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, the three plaintiffs alleged that they were paid less than the wages owed for sheet metal work. The settlement will provide the three plaintiffs with $66,000 in backpay and damages, and Defendants have agreed to additionally pay a portion of the attorneys' fees incurred in litigating the case.