WWJD Traffic Control, INC. Owes Over $150,000 in Unpaid Wages

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Robby Davis, GolocalPDX Contributor

WWJD Traffic Control, INC., a faith-based company based out of Salem, Oregon, is currently dealing with the consequences of failing to pay their workers for five public projects. As of now WWJD Traffic Control, INC. owes their employees a total of $158,218.91 in unpaid wages and overtime for flagging and traffic control performed on numerous highway construction projects.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is currently in the process of debarring the traffic control company from working on any further public projects. This task will be relatively easy considering WWJD Traffic Control, INC. has been closed due to a lack of funds caused by these ongoing wage violations.

According to Alan Jacob, a representative for WWJD Traffic Control, INC., the company was only open for a year.

It was discovered that not only did WWJD Traffic Control, INC. not pay their workers, but they also submitted false and inaccurate certified payroll reports for several projects. The company also chose not to post the Prevailing Wage Rate on all five projects that are required by law.

BOLI will seek civil penalties of $83,491.52 for these wage, recordkeeping and posting violations.

“We have several bills in the legislature that would give us new tools for wage enforcement, such as the ability to make repeat wage offenders post a bond for future wage payments,” stated Charlie Burr, the Communications Director for BOLI. “We feel confident in the Bills we’ve submitted.”

Luckily, the workers who have been affected have since been paid the amount that they were owed.

Unfortunately, wage violations are a fairly common issue. As of now there are 60 other firms and individuals who are ineligible to work on public projects because of such violations.

Public projects in which BOLI determined wage violations occurred include:

Ritter Rd. – Deer Run Road Bly Mountain Section project (OR 140): Respondent failed to pay $69,112.42 in prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to 15 workers. Paid by contractor, not WWJD. Seeking civil penalty of $13,182.11
Grass Butte – Rimrock Road (OR 126) project: Respondent failed to pay $44,434.49 in prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to 11 workers. Paid by contractor, not WWJD. Seeking civil penalty of $11,000.00.
Kitson Springs Road to Eagle Creeek (OR 58) project: Respondent failed to pay $25,666.22 in prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to eight workers. Paid by contractor, not WWJD. Seeking civil penalty of $7,389.92.
Cape Creek Bridge Rail Retrofit (US 101) project: Respondent failed to pay $15,043.38 in prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to eight workers. Seeking civil penalty of $3,819.62.
McCullough Bridge Rehab (US 101) project: Respondent failed to timely pay $3,962.70 in prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, to seven workers. Seeking civil penalty of $3,099.87.

WWJD commonly stands for “What Would Jesus Do?” What is commoly believed is that Jesus wouldn’t steal, lie or cheat. According to Alan Jacob of WWJD, faith is an important value in the company.

Some people feel there is no greater crime that not giving another person the money that is rightfully owed to them. It's ironic that a faith-based organization would go against the Biblical teachings it's founded on.

Leviticus 19:13 states, “Do not defraud your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.”

The Bible makes it obvious that people ought to be paid for the work they accomplish.