By Mike Perleberg
(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Former employees of a local construction company are being granted class status in their lawsuit alleging they were not paid for the work they did on a Lawrenceburg project. Six former employees sued Lawrenceburg-based Linkmeyer Development II, LLC and its owners – Steven Linkmeyer and Brian Bischoff – in Dearborn County court in 2013 claiming they were paid below the Indiana prevailing wage in violation of the federal Davis-Bacon Acts, the Indiana Common Construction Wage Act, and Lawrenceburg city code. The case has seen dozens if not hundreds of filings since then. The lawsuit’s newest development is the December 26 order granting it class status in Dearborn Circuit Court. On January 20, a judge gave attorneys permission to begin notifying approximately 100 total employees – skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled laborers – of the lawsuit’s new class action status. The class does not include two Linkmeyer relatives who worked on the project in question. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, violations of the Indiana Common Construction Wage Act, violations of Indiana wage statutes, and unjust enrichment. Linkmeyer Development had been loaned $3 million by the City of Lawrenceburg as part of a 2009 development agreement to fill and level three tracts of land covering 103 acres. The complaint alleged that the agreement required the company to “comply with all appropriate codes, laws and ordinances including the payment of prevailing wages for labor as required by the State of Indiana and the City of Lawrenceburg.” Attorneys for the employees claim that Linkmeyer “readily admits” in depositions that his company never made any effort to pay prevailing wages. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the employees “in an amount that will fairly compensate them for those losses and damages they have and will sustain as a result of Defendant’s wrongdoing.” The employees also want attorneys’ fees and interest. The employees are being represented by Pavlack Law along with co-counsels Green & Schultz Trial Lawyers, and Klaft Olsen & Lesser.
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