Workers: Bovis Stiffed Us on OT

Kati Cornell
July 25, 2009

Embattled construction giant Bovis Lend Lease is being hit with a class-action suit yesterday for allegedly stiffing employees on overtime pay. Workers for the firm, which oversaw the construction of Citi Field and the demolition of the former Deutsche Bank tower, routinely put in more than 40 hours a week without extra compensation, according to the suit, filed in Manhattan federal court. Engineers, assistant project managers and others say they, too, have lost out on OT on jobs in New York and New Jersey since 2006 because they were miscategorized as managers so as not to be entitled to the extra pay. Bovis was investigated in connection with a Deutsche Bank building fire that killed two firefighters in 2007. “While Bovis has benefited from construction contracts worth many millions of dollars, (the company) has deprived many workers who worked long hours performing construction management services at its work sites of the overtime premium pay,” attorney Jack Raisner wrote in court papers.