March 3 — A New Jersey mechanical contracting company agreed Feb. 24 to pay a total of $400,000 to settle allegations that it violated state law and regulations barring gender discrimination in employment by failing to employ female plumbers on jobs it handled, including many taxpayer-funded projects (In re Falasca Mech. Inc. and Plumbers & Pipefitters Local No. 332, N.J. Att'y Gen., No. EF14SB-61686, administrative consent order filed 2/24/14).
Under terms of the administrative consent order announced by the New Jersey Attorney General's office, Falasca Mechanical Inc. of Vineland, N.J., will make payments of $250,000 to the state and $150,000 to journeyman plumber Bette Feldeisen, a member of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union No. 322.
Under its ongoing labor agreement with Local 322, Falasca staffs its projects by requesting workers from the union.
The state alleged that Falasca repeatedly hired less experienced, less qualified male plumbers over Feldeisen and in general failed to make a good-faith effort to employ female plumbers while handling millions of dollars in public works jobs.
Local 322, which is a non-paying party to the same settlement, agreed to join with Falasca in a cooperative effort to increase female recruitment into the union and to increase training and employment opportunities for female plumbers during the next three apprenticeship cycles.
Preferential Hiring of Men Alleged
Feldeisen worked for Falasca on occasional jobs beginning in 2000 and continuously from December 2006 through January 2009, when she was laid off for economic reasons, according to the state's summary of the case.
When the company was hired for a 2009 hospital construction project that required work on medical gas systems, Feldeisen, who holds a certification in medical gas installation, was passed over by Falasca and the union in favor of male plumbers who had fewer years of experience and who weren't certified in medical gas installation, according to the state.
In administrative complaints filed against Falasca and the union in September 2010, Feldeisen alleged that she was passed over repeatedly when Falasca sought plumbers through Local 322 for private and public projects, despite her experience and prior employment relationship with the contractor.
Her complaints alleged gender discrimination in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the state's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) rules for public contractors.
The state's investigation showed that “for a period of at least four years, encompassing over 150 public contracts, Falasca has not been in compliance with the EEO rules when accepting and carrying out public contracts,’’ according to the consent order.
Hiring Goals, Recruitment Efforts Mandated
Under terms of its agreement with the state, Falasca makes no admission of wrongdoing or liability.
In addition to the monetary terms of the settlement, Falasca agreed to work with Local 322 to comply with state hiring goals for female workers.
The company also agreed to keep records for at least three years of its efforts to reach hiring goals for women for every public contract it is awarded, including records of all individuals requested or referred from a union and all those interviewed or hired.
Falasca also will develop its own anti-discrimination and EEO rules compliance policy, distribute it to all unions with which the company has a labor agreement, and provide mandatory training on the policy to all project managers, foremen, hiring personnel and the Local 322 business manager.
The settlement includes reporting and monitoring provisions to ensure compliance.
The Local 322 Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) has committed to its own outreach and recruitment efforts to attract more women to the apprenticeship program.
The union agreed to undertake outreach to students in at least three vocational-technical high schools during the next five academic years to provide information about the plumbing industry as a career and to encourage first- and second-year female students to pursue careers in the trade.
Representatives of Falasca and Local 322 could not be reached for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine McCarthy in Philadelphia at lmccarthy@bna.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan J. McGolrick at smcgolrick@bna.com
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