Power Design Inc., a large St. Petersburg, Fla., electrical contractor, has agreed to a $2.75-million settlement with the Washington, D.C., attorney general that will compensate craftworkers and the city to resolve allegations the firm and two subcontractors underpaid workers by misclassifying them as independent contractors.
City Attorney General Karl A. Racine had alleged in a 2018 lawsuit that Power Design and subcontractors JVA Services LLC and DDK Electric Inc., which were hired to staff some D.C.-area projects, allegedly reduced labor costs by failing to report more than 500 workers as employees between 2014 and 2017. Power Design has worked on “at least 10 large” city hotel and residential projects, according to Racine’s office.