A New Haven-based company that provides food service at 23 state-owned highway plazas on Interstates 95 and 395 as well as Route 15 is being sued by Attorney General William Tong to recover $6.1 million in unpaid wages and damages.
It seeks to recover unpaid wages for more than 2,000 workers, although state Labor Commissioner Dante Bartolomeo said her office continues to receive complaints and is actively investigating additional potential instances of wage theft at the service plazas.
Tong’s office sued the company on behalf of the state Department of Labor. The lawsuit seeks to recover $5.4 million in unpaid wages and is also seeking $722,000 in civil penalties that had been previously assessed, but were never paid.
Tong said said his office was “left with no choice” because complaints about the company’s non-payment of wages date back to 2017.
“These workers did their job, and they deserve to be paid their full compensation,” Tong said Friday. “Project Service was put on notice years ago that their subcontractors were underpaying workers in violation of state law. They have continuously refused to make their workers whole despite repeated warnings and demands.”
Project Service has held a food service contract since 2009 with the state Department of Transportation for the 23 state-owned service plazas. There have been at least two chief executive officer since then; the website for the Secretary of State’s office lists Trevor Moore as a principal of the company website currently.
Company officials were not available for comment Friday.
Tong was joined at a news conference Friday by representatives of the Service Employees International union.
“It’s more than a contract dispute,” Tong said of the union’s interest in the lawsuit being filed. “It is a violation of our state’s wage and hours laws.”
When asked about the possibility of