Fire cleanup crews ordered to stop work over alleged comp violations
Posted On: Feb. 16, 2018 1:23 PM CST
Five contractors working to help clean up a fire disaster area in California’s Ventura County were ordered to stop work after investigators alleged multiple workers compensation violations, the county’s district attorney announced.
As part of a sweep of 55 companies working to clean up areas damaged in the massive Thomas Fire, which charred 440 square miles in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in December, investigators with the California Department of Insurance, the Contractors State License Board, and the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation found that the five of the companies were operating in violation of several California laws governing contractors and workers comp, District Attorney Gregory Totten said in a statement released by his office on Wednesday.
The companies had either not been licensed to work or had not obtained insurance to protect workers, according to the statement.
Mr. Totten said investigations are ongoing, and that most companies are operating legally.