Murphy Anderson Settles Two Wage-Theft Cases on Behalf of 23 Construction Workers in Virginia
In two separate suits Murphy Anderson filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Court approved favorable settlements for construction workers who alleged that they were misclassified as independent contractors and underpaid for their work.
In the first case, seven workers sued Building and Glazing General, Inc., its owner Juan Valdez, and higher-tier contractor RGS Products, Inc. The workers installed glass panels and did related work on two luxury apartment buildings in Arlington, Virginia: Hazel National Landing and Azure National Landing. They alleged that their employers misclassified them as independent contractors, paid them nothing for the first 30 minutes of their shifts each day, failed to pay them the required overtime wages for their hours worked over 40 each workweek and failed to pay them anything for their last week of work.
Murphy Anderson filed suit in May 2025 and successfully settled the case in August 2025. The total settlement amount is $100,000.
In the second case, 16 workers sued Hanover R.S. Construction, LLC, Breeden Heating and Air, Inc., and Roxy Multiservices, LLC. The workers did HVAC and related work on one of Northern Virginia’s largest construction projects: a 439-unit apartment building at Springfield Town Center. They alleged that their employers misclassified them as independent contractors, failed to pay them anything for the many hours they worked over 40 per workweek and also failed to pay them anything for their last five weeks of work—even after they complained to each defendant about the alleged wage theft.
Murphy Anderson filed suit in this case in August 2025 and quickly reached a favorable settlement totaling $282,313. The Court approved the settlement in October 2025.
Both federal and Virginia law protect workers from wage theft. Employers often wrongly classify their employees as independent contractors to avoid paying workers all the wages they are owed. In some circumstances, Virginia law also makes higher-tier contractors jointly liable for wage theft by their subcontractors.
Murphy Anderson attorneys Mark Hanna and David Rodwin represented the workers.