SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — A Southampton contractor who was recently indicted after being accused of failing to pay his employees prevailing wages, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, has spoken out in hopes of setting the record straight, he said.
Robert Terry, 65, was indicted on charges including willful failure to pay prevailing wages after he allegedly misclassified his employees' job categories on certified payrolls, resulting in about $83,694 in underpayments, the DA said.
According to the investigation, between March and August 2018, Terry was a contractor on the Davis Park Marina Improvement project, a public works contract that required the contractor to pay its workers the correct prevailing wage based on the duties they performed on the project. Tierney said.
In addition, he was responsible for completing certified payroll statements confirming that he was paying his employees the proper wages that were in effect while they worked on the project, the DA said.
Instead, Tierney is accused of classifying his employees below the “laborers” wage, which is lower than the “dock builders” wage, even though the workers were performing duties that required a higher wage, Tierney said.
And, although additional employees of Terry Contracting & Materials, Inc. worked as crane operators on the project were allegedly illegally omitted from certified payrolls, the DA said.
After an investigation, the New York State Department of Labor found that Terry and his company owed employees more than $80,000 for not paying them as dock builders, Tierney said.
Terry and his company, Terry Contracting & Materials, Inc. were arraigned before Superior Court Judge Timothy P. Mazzei on charges including willful failure to pay applicable wages and benefits and first degree falsification of a business record. , both Class E felonies. and second-degree falsifying a business record, a Class A misdemeanor, Tierney said.
Judge Mazzei ordered Terry released because his charges are considered eligible without bail under current New York State law, Tierney said.
Terry is due back in court on Jan. 23, 2025, and faces 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if convicted of the top charge, the DA said.
“This defendant allegedly pocketed money that would have gone to his workers and their families,” Tierney said. “We will not allow unscrupulous business owners to get rich by cheating workers out of their legally mandated wages on taxpayer-funded projects.”
He is represented by Michael Cornacchia, who reached out to Patch with a statement from Terry.
“I am writing to correct the inaccurate and false statements made by District Attorney Raymond Tierney in his press release announcing that my company, Terry Contracting and Materials, Inc. and I have been accused of some alleged criminal conduct regarding the payment of our employees. Terry wrote.
And he continues: “The first, most blatant and damaging mistake is that I 'pocketed money' that should have gone to my employees. I was portrayed as a thief who took advantage of my workers. to our employees.”
According to Terry, the amount representing “allegedly owed our workers is being held, with our consent, by the City of Brookhaven pending the resolution of this dispute. The charges in the indictment are the product of an ongoing dispute, the my company has been in discussions with the New York State Department of Labor for the past several years regarding whether some of our employees should have been paid as “lakes” rather than workers in a dock restoration project at Brookhaven's Davis Park Marina in 2018.”
Terry then responded to what he said was “another misleading statement made by the DA — that we paid our workers 'as laborers and not dock workers'; four of our employees were, in fact, paid as dock workers, since they played a central role in the building of the wharf, when all the facts finally come to light, it will be clear that just because a laborer did labor work on the wharf project, it did not make him a shipbuilder. he deserved a corresponding fee.”
In addition, Terry said, the DA “further alleges that there was a malicious scheme to defraud two employees operating cranes out of their legal pay. However, she omitted that one of the employees was my son who is an engineer and works as a project manager and the other was one of my partners in our business Neither expected to be paid for occasional crane use as both were well compensated as company.Neither was cheated out of compensation, nor did they complain that it was so.
Terry said he started his business in Suffolk County 38 years ago, “where I still live with my wife and family. We are, and always have been, a reliable, respected and honest employer. We take pride in the work we do I have been involved in public and private construction projects and have never been accused of underpaying workers wages or hours As a lifelong member of this community who, in all I am sixty five years old, never been arrested for a crime, I have great respect for our laws and those who enforce them, I believe I will get a fair chance in a courtroom to prove our innocence and maintain the reputation we have earned by effort. we will continue as a vibrant, growing small business, committed to our employees and the communities we serve,” said Terry.
