A manager at a North Babylon asbestos removal and demolition labor company was sentenced for failing to pay more than $80,000 in prevailing wages owed to employees for public works projects at schools in the Merrick and Oceanside Union Free School Districts between 2019 and 2021.
Between June 2019 and November 2019, BJA Renovations Corp. performed work on public works projects at the Merrick Union Free School District as a subcontractor at the Birch School, Roland A. Chatterton School, and Norman J. Levy Lakeside School. Certified payroll records were filed with the Merrick Union Free School District and allegedly signed by Dana Petrizzo as the company’s vice president
The pay rate recorded on the payroll records was $44.00 per hour for Hazardous Construction Laborer and $37.44 for a Construction Laborer. The actual hourly pay provided to employees was only $35.00 per hour and employees were paid in mostly cash. The correct prevailing wage rate under New York State Labor laws during this time period for a Hazardous Material Laborer was $52.70 per hour in wages and benefits and $68.96 per hour in wages and benefits for a Construction Laborer.
The weekly payroll was delivered to the worksite by the manager, Joseph Demasco, or company president Nicholas Barnett, who also worked as a supervisor for the Merrick project.
Additionally, between June 2021 and September 2021, the company performed work on a project at the Oceanside Union Free School District, specifically at Oceanside High School. Payroll records filed with the school district, and signed by Petrizzo, recorded a rate of pay of $44.00 per hour for Hazardous Construction Laborers and $37.44 an hour for Construction Laborers. Employees were paid $35.00 per hour in cash and sometimes by check. Payroll deliveries were made by Demasco or the site supervisor, Barnett.
The correct prevailing wage rate under New York State Labor Laws during this time period for a Hazardous Material Laborer was $52.70 per hour in wages and benefits and $74.70 per hour in wages and benefits for a Construction Laborer.
On February 21, 2020, BJA Renovations and Barnett as President prepared and filed a Quarterly Combined Withholding, Wage Reporting, and Unemployment Insurance Return with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the New York State Department of Labor recording that the total wages paid to their 15 employees between July 1, 2019, and September 30, 2019, totaled $52,904. The certified payroll records for BJA during that same period recorded a total payroll paid to four of the employees listed on the return and eight employees not listed for a total of more than $185,000. The underreporting of the actual payroll defrauded the Unemployment Fund in the amount of $63,036.80
The defendants surrendered to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Detective Investigators on June 7, 2024.
Barnett pleaded guilty on March 4, 2025 before Judge Anthony Paradiso to Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage and Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree (a Class A misdemeanor). He was sentenced in May 2025 to three years’ probation and a five-year debarment.
Petrizzo pleaded guilty on March 4, 2025 before Paradiso to Disorderly Conduct. The defendant was sentenced to a Conditional Discharge the same day.
On August 21, 2025, BJA Renovations Corporation was sentenced to a three-year Conditional Discharge and is also prohibited from performing any public works projects in New York State for five years.
Demasco, 67, pleaded guilty on March 14, 2025 before Judge Christopher Quinn to Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage (a Class E felony). He was sentenced on January 20 before Judge Robert McDonald to five years’ probation and restitution payments totaling $81,592 for underpaying wages to more than 40 workers. Demasco is also prohibited from working on public works projects in New York State for five years.
“Joseph Demasco treated our state’s prevailing wage laws as a suggestion, consistently underpaying workers on public projects and shorting more than 40 hard-working employees of $80,000 in their rightful wages,” said Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly. “We will never tolerate contractors trying to save a buck on the backs of their employees. This gross exploitation of the people who build our communities will be prosecuted, and the individuals and businesses responsible will be held accountable with debarments, restitution payments to make their employees whole, and even jail time, when they flout our laws.”
New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said, “Honest work should result in honest pay. New York State has zero tolerance for anyone who tries to cheat their workers out of their hard-earned money or undermine accountability in public funding. Thanks to the strong partnership between the New York State Department of Labor and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, we will continue fighting worker exploitation in all its forms to ensure all New Yorkers receive every cent they have rightfully earned.”