Dive Brief:

• New York's attorney general says a Bronx construction company and its owner have to pay almost a half-million dollars to 16 workers shorted pay during construction of a public housing project in New York City.
• The company and its owner Mohammad T. Riaz cannot work on government construction projects for five years, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said.
• The case also brought convictions for the project manager, his company, and two foremen.

Dive Insight:

Both the city contract and state law require paying workers at prevailing rates. The state said that workers who got low wages were left out of reports given to the city or got the right pay and had to give some of it back afterward. The workers also did not get benefits they should have, according to the attorney general. Schneiderman's ruling is an important message to companies looking to enter into future business with the New York government: play by the rules, or suffer the legal consequences.