A contractor from Amityville pleaded guilty to failing to pay the proper prevailing wage rate, resulting in $13,380 restitution to be paid to his former employees.
Between April 12, 2024, and May 30, 2024, Rand Strollo, the owner of RJ Painting Inc., was a contractor at a public works project at the Masera Middle School in West Islip. The public works contract required Strollo to pay the employees the proper prevailing wage rate for the hours worked on the project, including holidays. Instead, Strollo failed to pay his employees the correct number of hours that they worked and the proper prevailing wage rate for working on Memorial Day.
During an investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, it was uncovered that Strollo also failed to pay his employees the correct number of hours and the proper prevailing wage rate on two additional public works projects that were completed between 2022 and 2024.
On November 21, 2025, Strollo was arrested by the DA’s office.
On January 13, 2026, Strollo pleaded guilty to one count of Petit Larceny, a Class A misdemeanor, before Acting County Court Judge Edward J. Hennessey. As a condition of the plea, the DA’s Office required Strollo pay $6,136 back to the 12 employees from whom he withheld wages on the Masera Middle School project, as well as an additional $7,244 to employees on the two other public works projects. In total, Strollo returned $13,380 to his employees.
“My office’s Labor Unit, working together with the Department of Labor, returned to the hard-working employees the proper wages owed to them by this company,” said Suffolk DA Ray Tierney. “We will continue to fight against the fraudulent and illegal practices of contractors when they fail to pay employees for their honest labor.”