| Christian Brothers Heating & Air Conditioning,
Inc., Issue No. 1 |
February 2003
|
The Contractors Critic
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING,
INC., AN ABC MEMBER Reporting on Safety, Productivity, and Honesty in the Construction Industry.
|
Litigation, Liens &
Labor Problems
|
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING’S LABOR
PROBLEMS
| Everyone knows that if a
contractor is going to be reliable, then they must be able to hire and keep
reliable and well trained veteran employees. However, part of Christian
Brothers’ problem in keeping a skilled, highly trained labor force on hand is
that they are charged with discriminating against union-affiliated workers. In
October 2002, for instance, the Federal National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
received a complaint alleging that Christian Brothers had violated federal labor
law by firing four of its employees. The NLRB’s concern was that Christian
Brothers dismissed those workers not because they were incompetent, but because
Christian Brothers suspected the workers might have been sympathetic to union
membership. (Case #21-CA-35198)
Christian Brothers is entitled to operate non-union. However, if the company
is illegally discriminating against past and current union members, they are not
only breaking federal law, but they are denying themselves and their clients
access to a significant pool of well trained workers.
|
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING MIRED IN
LAWSUITS AND LIENS.
WHEN DOES CHRISTIAN BROTHERS HAVE TIME TO DO BUSINESS?
| Christian Brothers
Heating and Air Conditioning is a medium-sized heating, venting and air
conditioning contractor with about 100-120 employees, that operates in Southern
California. They have been in business close to twenty years. Over those years,
Christian Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning has certainly experienced their
share of troubling litigation. Christian Brothers has filed liens against and
sued their own customers and fellow contractors. This kind of record could be
cause for current and potential customers of Christian Brothers to take a closer
look at the company’s record. The Contractors Critic views court cases and
liens as a plague on our construction industry. Contractors, employees, employee
organizations and customers should be working together and settling their
differences outside of the courthouse. However, the trend in our industry is
towards more court suits— not fewer. This concerns the Critic and should concern
present and potential future customers of Christian Brothers. As the
Engineering News-Record of February 15, 1999, editorialized:
If your only tool is a hammer, then every problem will look like a
nail. When it comes to the construction industry, the main dispute
resolution tool remains a lawyer, and every disagreement still looks
like a lawsuit.... Lawsuits go against the basic nature of the industry.
Construction is not an individual endeavor ... but rather a business of
team building.... Successful teams and projects are built on the
strengths of each member, while lawsuits and unsuccessful projects are
founded on the weaknesses of team members ... and a decade or more may
pass before there is any resolution of a dispute by the courts, leaving
no one a winner. Some industry sources claim that the tide of dispute
resolution may be turning back towards the courts. This may indicate
that the [construction] industry has become too complacent ... to combat
creeping litigiousness.
The Critic could not agree more with this Engineering News-Record
editorial. These are the reasons why the Critic devotes much of its resources to
researching and publishing details on litigation in the construction industry.
We feel that the sheer numbers and types of these lawsuits should be of grave
concern to every contractor and construction customer.
Some contractors say that they have never sued a customer. That type of
contractor is a rare exception. Some contractors will sue over trifling amounts
and issues that could be otherwise settled. Those types of lawsuits are ruining
the construction industry. The Critic feels that publicizing construction
litigation could lead to less litigation.
The following are some recently discovered examples of court suits involving
Christian Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning. | | | | | | |
