WHEREAS, LP Group 2 was awarded contracts by the City of Philadelphia for the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI) projects between 2004 and 2006. According to the Labor Standards Unit, employees of LP Group 2 who worked on said projects were not paid prevailing wages. At the time, the company employed many ex-offenders who had difficulty obtaining employment, and the committee will investigate whether the employees were unfairly treated due to this status; and
WHEREAS, LP Group 2 was officially cited by the City's Labor Standards Unit for violations of prevailing wage laws, and yet the City continued to pay LP Group 2, as stated on the record by City Solicitor Shelley Smith at a public hearing of the Committee of the Whole on April 22, 2013; and
WHEREAS, The unpaid employees of LP Group 2 deserve to be compensated for their work on NTI projects. As of October 21, 2013, 18 hours have been spent in hearings before the Board of Labor Standards as LP Group 2 appeals this decision, a tremendous waste of tax-payer time, money and effort; and
WHEREAS, The workers in question deserve to be paid immediately, and they should not be made to wait until the next scheduled hearing on November 7, 2013, or beyond; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee on Labor and Civil Service is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to examine the mistreatment of workers by LP Group 2 under contracts awarded though the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative after the workers in questions have now been subject to 18 hours of hearings before the Board of Labor Standards while the City of Philadelphia has stated they have the money available to pay the workers.
End