Pair of Bay Area Construction Companies Cited

Two Bay Area construction companies who were recently cited by California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet and referred to the San Francisco County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution were charged with failing to obey a stop order and failing to secure workers’ compensation insurance.

Mehdi Karimi, doing business as Struct-Tech Group Inc., and Philip McCarthy, doing business as Glenside Construction, were cited by Bradstreet during inspections on Oct. 15 and were each issued a stop work order for not having workers’ comp. The next day, in a follow-up visit by investigators with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, both companies were reportedly found to be illegally continuing to employ workers without the proper coverage. Both cases were immediately referred to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

The District Attorney’s Office conducted its own investigation into the matter. A DA-warrant was issued for the defendants on Dec. 26 to notify them of the pending charges against them. Philip McCarthy surrendered to authorities on Dec. 30 and was arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court on Dec. 31. His next court date is Jan. 25. Karimi surrendered Jan. 6 and has a court date of Jan. 8 for the arraignment.

Karimi based in Berkeley was assessed a $2,000 penalty for having two employees on the job in violation of the stop work order, and McCarthy located in San Francisco was assessed a penalty of $5,000 for having five employees on the job in violation of the stop work order.