Southampton Contractor Accused of Shorting Workers $83K

A Southampton man who owns a contracting company allegedly underpaid employees $83,694 for work performed on a government contract to repair the Davis Park Marina on Fire Island, Suffolk County prosecutor said.

A grand jury indicted Robert Terry, the owner of Terry Contracting & Materials, Inc., on charges of willful failure to pay the  prevailing wage rate and falsifying business records. The 65-year-old man pleaded not guilty Dec. 12 at Suffolk County court.

“This defendant allegedly pocketed money that would have gone to his workers and their families,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said. “We will not allow unscrupulous business owners to enrich  themselves by cheating workers out of their legally mandated wages on taxpayer-funded projects.”

Prosecutors said Terry allegedly misclassified his employees’ work  categories on certified payrolls between March and August 2018, when he was a contractor at the Davis Park Marina Improvement project, a government contract that required the contractor to  pay his employees the proper prevailing wage rate, based on the tasks that they performed on the  project. He was also required to complete certified payrolls to affirm the proper rate was paid, authorities added.

Instead, Terry allegedly classified his employees under the wage rate for “laborers,” which is lower  than the wage rate for “dock builders,” though the employees were performing tasks necessitating the higher salary rate, according to investigators. Crane operators were also unlawfully omitted from the certified payrolls, prosecutors said.

Suffolk County Judge Timothy Mazzei released Terry without bail. He is due back in court on Jan. 23. He faces up to four years in prison, if convicted.

His attorney, Michael Cornacchia, said his client is “a man of integrity with an unblemished record” who “looks forward to having his day in court.”