Construction worker’s injury sparks small protest in Stamford

Members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters protest outside a job site at 177 Broad St. in downtown Stamford, Conn. on Monday, September 12, 2016. A worker was injured on August 31 after falling from a scaffold that lacked a proper safety rail. less Members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters protest outside a job site at 177 Broad St. in downtown Stamford, Conn. on Monday, September 12, 2016. A worker was injured on August 31 after falling ... more Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Construction worker’s injury sparks small protest in Stamford 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — An undocumented worker’s injury on a downtown construction site and her claims that the company asked her to falsify forms sparked a small protest Monday outside the Broad Street office building.

Delmi Alberto Mejia, a contracted worker for a ninth-floor renovation project at 177 Broad St., fell last month from a rolling scaffold and sustained a dislocated elbow, radius fracture and torn ligaments and tendons, according to a New England Regional Council of Carpenters.

NERCC claims the scaffold lacked standard safety rails, and the rails were not available at the job site.

Mejia, who speaks Spanish, said through a translator that said she was brought onto the project by a representative from a company called Interior Construction. However, Mejia said they told her to say she was hired by the project’s subcontractor, Alva Interiors.

When Mejia could not accurately identify her employer when she arrived at Stamford Hospital, she was initially unable to receive surgery to correct her injuries. However, doctors eventually determined her injury was an emergency and performed the surgery without documented insurance, she said.

A representative from Alva Interiors declined to comment on the safety violation, but an employee in the payroll office said the company has no record of hiring Mejia for the project at 177 Broad St.

RFR Realty, which owns the Broad Street building, declined to comment and would not provide details about the renovation project.

A representative from Interior Construction also declined to comment.

The project’s general contractor, Signature Construction Group, did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.

The state labor department’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division was not able to verify Mejia’s employer. A wage agent planned to speak with Mejia to determine if she was paid the proper wages and if the payments complied with state record keeping and wage payment laws, department of labor spokeswoman Nancy Steffens wrote in an email.

Mejia also said that a representative from Interior Construction asked her to falsify I-9 and W-2 forms before she would be paid her wages or receive workers compensation following the accident. She declined to falsify documents, and the NERCC helped Mejia legally file the proper worker’s compensation forms.

“Other workers on this job have told me that when they sign in at the start of the work day, they put their names under Alva, but they are paid cash by Interior Construction,” said Bob Corriveau, of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. “This is a practice designed to circumvent labor laws by employers. It allows them to not pay state and federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, unemployment taxes and skip out on workers compensation insurance.”

nora.naughton@scni.com; twitter.com/noranaughton