Oakland Laborers Allege Over $300,000 in Wage Theft at Public Housing Redevelopment

In East Oakland, several construction workers allege that they are owed more than $300,000 in total wages for their roofing labor on a large, publicly funded affordable housing development.

Partially funded by the Oakland Housing Authority, the renovation project took place last year at Lion Creek Crossings, which has hundreds of affordable housing units near the Coliseum BART station.

At least 21 workers said that they were underpaid for weeks, and in some cases months, by Milestone Roofing, a subcontractor of Alameda-based Saarman Construction Ltd. Since last October, more than 10 of those laborers have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to try to recover pay, according to a legal aid group assisting them.

At a press conference on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, some of the workers said they struggled to support their families and were forced to deplete their savings while receiving partial or no paychecks from Milestone.

“It was extremely difficult when rent came due — especially when it came to paying for gas just to get to work,” said Jesus Martinez, 32, in Spanish. “At the same time, it was incredibly frustrating not having an income — particularly because I was dependent on this job.”

Martinez, the father of a 9-year-old girl, estimates his due wages at $18,000.

His father, 54-year-old Eusebio Martinez, a foreman in the project, said he himself lost sleep and saw his diabetes worsen because of the alleged wage theft. Despite fielding questions from other roofers who were not receiving their full paychecks, Martinez said he got no clear answers.

“The stress made me sick…. I had such severe anxiety that the doctor prescribed medication for it,” said the elder Martinez, who has worked as a roofer for 25 years. “Wage theft is unfair; it is undignified. I felt frustrated. I had no money to bring home.”

As part of Monday’s announcement, more than a dozen workers and supporters marched to Saarman’s offices to deliver a follow-up letter demanding they be properly paid.

In a statement, a Milestone Roofing representative said the Tracy-based company is investigating the accuracy of the workers’ allegations.

“Negotiations with Saarman Construction, the contracting party, are ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company is “not in a position to offer further comment” until those matters are settled.

General contractor Saarman Construction said the workers alleging underpayment were hired by its subcontractor Milestone Roofing, not Saarman. The construction firm, founded more than 40 years ago, said that it’s also reviewing the allegations against Milestone.

“We take wage compliance on all our projects seriously and expect all our subcontractors to do the same,” the company said. “We are working to verify the facts and are engaging with counsel for the workers to address their claims.”

A spokesperson with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with enforcing labor laws, confirmed it has received complaints involving Saarman Construction and Milestone Roofing, but declined to comment further.

The roofers worked in two phases of the Lion Creek Crossings project, involving 261 affordable housing units at the site of an older public housing complex called Coliseum Gardens. The transit-oriented development now features a large public park and community center.

Alexx Campbell, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work who represents some of the roofers claiming unpaid wages, said the city referred their query to the project’s private developer, Related California.

Campbell said that Related California seems to have deflected any responsibility to Saarman, which oversaw the project, and its subcontractor Milestone.

He added that the workers, undertaking difficult and often dangerous roofing tasks, were entitled to a prevailing wage of $74.78 per hour that they failed to receive. Employers in public works projects are required to pay prevailing wage rates set by state regulators, which are higher than the minimum wage for all other workers.

Campbell pointed to the publicly funded nature of the project, saying that “it used taxpayer money, and when that happens, it’s even more important that the employers who hire workers to work on that kind of project follow the law.”

The Oakland Housing Authority did not immediately return a request for comment.

Saarman and Milestone have been involved in previous worker complaints, including other public works projects, Campbell said.

In 2023, Saarman Construction agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to resolve a 2018 lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by three workers who alleged that the company failed to pay them and others both prevailing and overtime wages.

“I would think that the city of Oakland, the Oakland Housing Authority, would want to see workers on a project like this, on a public housing project, be paid properly,” Campbell said.