Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Robert Terry, 65, of Southampton, was indicted for Willful Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage Rate, and other related charges, for allegedly misclassifying his employees’ work categories on certified payrolls, resulting in approximately $83,694 in underpayments.
“This defendant allegedly pocketed money that would have gone to his workers and their families,” said District Attorney Tierney. “We will not allow unscrupulous business owners to enrich themselves by cheating workers out of their legally mandated wages on taxpayer-funded projects”
According to the investigation, between March and August 2018, Terry was a contractor at the Davis Park Marina Improvement project, a public works contract that required the contractor to pay his employees the proper prevailing wage rate, based on the tasks that they performed on the project. Additionally, he was responsible for completing certified payrolls that affirmed he paid his employees the proper prevailing wages while they worked on the project.
Instead, Terry allegedly classified his employees under the wage rate for “laborers,” which is lower than the wage rate for “dock builders,” though the employees were performing tasks necessitating the higher salary rate.
Moreover, even though additional employees of Terry Contracting & Materials, Inc. worked as crane operators on the project, they were allegedly unlawfully omitted from the certified payrolls. After an investigation, New York State Department of Labor determined that Terry and his company owes the employees over $80,000 for failing to pay them as dock builders.
On December 12, 2024, Terry and his corporation, Terry Contracting & Materials, Inc. were arraigned on the indictment before Supreme Court Justice, Timothy P. Mazzei for one count of Willful Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage Rate and Supplement, Falsifying a Business Record in the First Degree, both Class E felonies, and Falsifying a Business Record in the Second Degree, a Class A misdemeanor.
Justice Mazzei ordered Terry to be released on his own recognizance because his charges are considered non-bail eligible under current New York State law, meaning prosecutors cannot ask for, and judges cannot set, bail. Terry is due back in court on January 23, 2025, and faces 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if convicted on the top count. He is represented by Michael Cornacchia, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Adriana Noyola of the Financial Crimes Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Detective Investigators Dennis Marcel and Daniel Ayrovainen of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s Financial Crimes Bureau.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.
Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.