Workers on the site of Donald Trump's Old Post Office project (not pictured) told POLITICO that they aren't receiving the pay rate required by law. | Getty Labor Department investigating Trump's Old Post Office project At issue is whether workers on the renovation are being paid less than federal law requires.

The Labor Department is investigating whether workers on Donald Trump’s renovation of Washington, D.C.’s Old Post Office are being paid less than federal law requires.

The Labor Department confirmed to POLITICO that it’s looking into allegations of wage-rule violations by the Craftsmen Group, a Trump Organization subcontractor that restores windows. And workers on the site, including one Craftsmen Group employee, told POLITICO that they and others aren’t receiving pay rates mandated by law. Two of them produced pay stubs to support their claims.


Trump’s refurbishment of the Romanesque pile, built in 1899, into a luxury hotel is his highest-profile real estate project, if only because the historic structure is situated just a few blocks from the White House. Trump staged a campaign event at the construction site in March, blending presidential politics with commerce. “When it’s completed," he said, "it will be truly one of the great hotels of the world."

Since the allegations involve a subcontractor, neither the Trump Organization nor the general contractor is under investigation directly and may not be legally liable. But union activists say the complaints reflect badly on Trump.

“It’s yet another example of Donald Trump’s relentless hypocrisy and gross mistreatment of workers,” said Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO. The labor federation endorsed Hillary Clinton last week for president, and for months has been highly critical of Trump's campaign.

Nikki Lewis, executive director of D.C. Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor organizations, said, "We have to make sure that Trump and any other developer who wants to do business in the District will comply with our laws and respect our employees." D.C. Jobs With Justice does not endorse political candidates

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said the company was not aware of the Labor Department investigation. "Thousands of workers have worked on the conversion of the Old Post Office to the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C.," said the spokesperson, who declined to be identified by name.

The spokesperson added that the project's construction manager, Lendlease, "is utilizing a sophisticated system and dedicated employees to certify that all payrolls are correct and ensure that workers are paid prevailing wages. If any issue is raised in the future, Lendlease will investigate and resolve it expeditiously.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks declined further comment, noting, "The corporate team has already replied."

The Craftsmen Group declined to comment on the record. A person who answered the phone told POLITICO "the matter has been settled," adding, "These are not public matters. This doesn't have to do with Donald Trump. There should be no cause for any public interest.”

A spokesman for the Labor Department confirmed Tuesday that the investigation is still open.

Trump does not own the Old Post Office, but rather, is leasing it from the federal government. That makes the Old Post Office a government construction project. Government projects are typically covered by the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that workers be paid the so-called prevailing wage, the rates set by unions within the geographic area where the construction takes place. That applies even when the workers are non-union. That’s true of many workers at the Old Post Office site, and all the workers POLITICO spoke to in reporting this story.

Under the terms of Trump’s contract with the General Services Administration — the federal government’s property manager — the Trump Organization, its contractors and subcontractors are required to pay workers Davis-Bacon rates. According to a spokesperson for GSA, that means “the Trump Organization is required to comply with Davis-Bacon and this includes subcontractors working at the project.”

In addition to the Craftsmen Group worker, three other construction workers at the Old Post Office told POLITICO they were not receiving prevailing wage. Two of them were employed by another subcontractor, Kensington Glass Arts, and shared pay stubs and detailed information about their duties.

Both workers said they weren’t being paid prevailing wage because their job classifications did not match their work responsibilities. Both said they worked as “glaziers” installing shower doors. Lynn Taylor, business manager of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 51, confirmed that workers who install shower doors were properly classified as glaziers. According to a sign displayed at the Trump work site, the project’s glaziers should be paid at least $24.30 an hour and possibly $27.64, depending on the value of Kensington Glass Arts' contract. But the two workers’ pay stubs showed them receiving $13 and $16 an hour, respectively.

“Everybody is complaining” about not receiving the correct wage, one of the two workers said. The other said that he raised the matter with Kensington Glass Arts but was told he did not qualify. “They’re going to do it as long as they can get away with it,” he said.

Kensington Glass Arts, whose participation in the Old Post Office renovation is not under investigation by the Labor Department, declined to comment.

A search of the Labor Department's enforcement database turned up no prior wage violations by Kensington Glass Arts or the Craftsman Group. But the department fined Kensington Glass Arts in 2011 for 15 health and safety violations. The Labor Department has fined Craftsmen Group three times for health and safety violations — twice in 2011 and once in 2007.

Should a subcontractor be found in violation of wage laws by the Labor Department or some other investigating body, the Trump Organization won’t likely be on the hook legally. The project’s general contractor, Lendlease, may share some liability, and a GSA spokesperson said that if the subcontractors’ alleged violations proved serious enough, the Trump organization might choose to terminate its contract with Lendlease.

“Lendlease is not aware of either of these allegations," said a spokesperson who declined to be identified by name, "or of any investigation. When raised through appropriate channels, Lendlease takes these issues very seriously."

The spokesperson added that the company's subcontractors were "required to submit weekly certified payroll reports certifying their compliance with the prevailing wage obligations in their contracts with the Trump Organization."

This would not be Lendlease's first encounter with federal wage authorities. In March 2015, the company, along with its subcontractor, Cindell Construction Company, agreed to pay $400,000 to settle allegations that it filed false claims to the government “after lower-tier subcontractors hired by Cindell underpaid workers and failed to compensate workers properly for overtime hours despite certifying compliance on weekly certified payrolls.”

In addition, Lendlease in 2012 agreed to pay $56 million in lieu of criminal prosecution after federal prosecutors charged that the company “intentionally and fraudulently billed clients, from at least 1999 to 2009, for hours that were not worked by labor foremen.”

When the Trump Organization announced in January 2015 that Lendlease would be the hotel’s construction manager, Trump said in a written statement that he and Lendlease “have had great success in the past” and that he was “sure the final result of Trump International Hotel at the site of the Old Post Office will be no different.”

Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.