Nassau Couple Pleads Guilty To Underpaying Workers

A Nassau County couple pleaded guilty on Monday to not paying full wages to their employees working on a New York City construction project, as well as falsifying records related to it.

Attorney General Letitia James today announced the guilty pleas of Vickram Mangru, his wife Gayatri Mangru and their company, AVM Construction Corp., of Valley Stream, for failing to pay proper prevailing wages to workers and falsifying business records related to a publicly-funded New York City construction project.

They were charged with failing to pay three workers their required prevailing and overtime wages, as well as supplemental benefits from December 2012 through February 2015. James said they falsified payroll records to conceal their crimes, and stole more than $280,000 from three workers in doing so. In October 2017, a Bronx County Grand Jury charged them with two counts of failure to pay prevailing wages and benefits, and two counts of first-degree falsifying business records.

“Intentionally underpaying workers is both highly illegal and immoral,” said James. “Not only did the defendants take advantage of innocent workers trying to earn a living, they also took advantage of New York City by falsifying records to the Department of Education. This office will never hesitate to investigate any employer who tries to cheat our workers or our government.”

James said that Vickram Mangru and AVM Construction Corp. both pleaded guilty to failure to pay prevailing wages and benefits. Gayatri Mangru pleaded guilty to misdemeanor failure to pay prevailing wages and benefits. As part of their please, the couple will pay $80,000 to the three workers they stole from

Vickram Mangru will be sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation. Gayatri Mangru and the company will face additional fines. In addition, the couple and the company will be barred from bidding in or being awarded any public works contracts in New York state for five years.

According to James, between Dec. 22, 2012 and April 12, 2014, Vickram Mangru, who owned Vick Construction, failed to pay several of his employees for construction and repair work they were doing to public schools in the Bronx. Mangru paid his workers between $120 and $160 a day for 40 to 50 hour work weeks -- far less than what they should have been paid.

To cover up the underpayment, Mangru falsified records to say he paid them the fulla mount they were due. The New York City Comptroller’s Office previously barred Mangru from obtaining contracts for public works projects in New York City after he was found to be in violation of labor laws. The comptroller’s office referred the case to the Attorney General’s after Mangru created a new company in an attempt to continue operating in New York City, but was allegedly still committing labor violations.

“An honest day's work deserves an honest day's pay, and when employers cheat workers from the wages they rightfully earned, regardless of their status, it’s labor abuse at its worst,” said New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. “Despite being debarred, this unscrupulous contractor attempted to use his wife’s name to open a company and take advantage of immigrant workers by withholding their prevailing wages yet again — now he is facing the consequences of his actions.”

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