Published
October 13, 2026
Construction workers hired by nine W.G./Welch Mechanical Contractors subcontractors to work on six District of Columbia projects, including City Ridge on Wisconsin Avenue NW, may qualify for $1,100 each plus any unpaid wages from the $1.7 million DC Attorney General settlement with Welch. A settlement administrator is to begin sending notices and claim forms to eligible workers within 60 days after the court enters the consent order.
Current Status
Claims are not open yet, and there is no public claim form or settlement website. DC Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced the consent order with W.G./Welch Mechanical Contractors on October 13, 2026, and the order requires a settlement administrator to begin sending a notice and claim form to eligible workers within 60 days after the DC Superior Court enters it. The copy of the order the Attorney General posted does not show the date of entry, and no claim deadline or payment date had been announced as of October 13, 2026. Eligible workers are identified from a list the District prepares, and the administrator is to contact them by phone, mail or email.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Notices Pending
Consent order announced Oct. 13, 2026 · notices due within 60 days of entry
Claim Deadline
Not set yet
The order sets no date · payments run for one year after the administrator receives the worker fund
Estimated Payout
$1,100 per worker
Set by the order, subject to adjustment · plus any unpaid wages and an equal amount in damages
Proof Required
Yes — notice
Claim form is sent to workers on the District’s list · no public claim form
What Changed Recently?
On October 13, 2026, the DC Office of the Attorney General announced that W.G./Welch Mechanical Contractors, LLC, a mechanical contractor that has installed HVAC systems, plumbing and sheet metal on District construction projects, agreed to a consent order resolving the District’s claims against it. Welch is to pay up to $1,706,450: $691,450 for about 500 construction workers, $1,000,000 in penalties to the District, and up to $15,000 for the cost of administering the worker payments.The District sued in DC Superior Court on June 18, 2024. The defendants were Welch, general contractor The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, and three subcontractors the Attorney General describes as labor brokers: Mechanical Plumbing Crew, Co., Ramirez Plumbing, Inc. and GINCO HVAC, LLC. The District alleged that workers on Welch’s DC jobs were classified as independent contractors when they should have been treated as employees, and that they were denied minimum wage, overtime pay and paid sick leave as a result. It also alleged that Welch, as the upstream contractor, is jointly and severally liable under DC law for violations committed by its subcontractors. The claims were brought under the District’s Workplace Fraud Act, Minimum Wage Revision Act and Sick and Safe Leave Act.
Welch denies wrongdoing. The consent order states that Welch denies the District’s claims and allegations and any violation of law, and that agreeing to the order is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability. No court has found that Welch or any of its subcontractors violated the law.
Whiting-Turner reached a separate settlement agreement with the District, which the Attorney General says changes its subcontracting practices on DC projects, and the order dismisses the District’s claims against Whiting-Turner with prejudice. The claims against Mechanical Plumbing Crew, Ramirez Plumbing and GINCO HVAC were dismissed without prejudice.
Who Qualifies?
The consent order defines an eligible worker as anyone hired by one of nine Welch subcontractors who performed work on at least one of six covered District of Columbia projects. The projects are the City Ridge mixed-use development on Wisconsin Avenue NW, which the Attorney General says involved more than 250 workers, and sites on Patterson Street NE, K Street NW (two projects), South Capitol Street SE and First Street NE.The nine subcontractors named in the order are Mechanical Plumbing Crew, Co.; Ramirez Plumbing, Inc.; GINCO HVAC, LLC; CJ Construction 14 LLC; Hernandez Plumbing Services LLC; H&R Plumbing LLC; HVAC Design LLC; JL&S Contractors, LLC; and Reyes Plumbing Inc. The list identifies whose workers are covered; the order makes no finding that any of these companies broke the law.
The order does not state a start or end date for covered work. Workers are identified through a list rather than by sign-up: the District proposes the list within 7 days after the order is entered, Welch can propose changes within 14 days, and the two sides agree on a final list 7 days after that.
How Much Will Workers Receive?
The $691,450 worker fund is split into two parts:- $550,000 for the alleged misclassification and paid sick leave violations. The order says each eligible worker receives $1,100 from this part, subject to adjustment once the final worker list is set.
- $141,450 for alleged unpaid regular and overtime wages. A worker’s amount is the unpaid hours times the higher of the worker’s regular rate or the DC minimum wage for the period, at 1.5 times that rate for hours over 40 in a Monday-to-Sunday week, plus an equal amount as liquidated damages.
Welch is never required to pay more than the $1,706,450 total. Up to $150,000 of the worker fund can be credited back to Welch for payments made to workers at the City Ridge site under a separate private lawsuit settlement, but only if that settlement is approved by its court and the money actually reaches the workers. Money still undistributed one year after the administrator receives the worker fund goes to the District.
The $1,000,000 penalty is paid to the District, not to workers: $154,275 within 30 days after the order is entered and $845,725 within one year.
What Proof Is Required?
The claim form comes with the notice. The order has the administrator send a Notice and Claim Form, in English and Spanish, to the workers on the agreed list; the Attorney General has not announced a public claim form or a settlement website, which is why this page treats the notice as the gate to filing.For unpaid wages, workers report their own hours. Claims of 25 hours or less of unpaid time are paid on the worker’s self-certified hours. Claims above 25 hours may be checked against other time and attendance records from the worker or the District, can be reduced to exclude time the worker could not reasonably have worked, and need the District’s approval before payment.
What Is the Deadline?
No claim deadline has been announced. The order says the notice must explain the requirements for a timely claim, but the order itself sets no date. The administrator’s duties to contact workers and send payments end one year after it receives the worker fund.How Are Workers Contacted?
The order has the administrator contact each eligible worker by phone, mail or email, beginning no later than 30 days after it receives the worker fund, and make at least one attempt to reach every worker with contact information within 90 days. Workers who have not filed a claim are to be contacted again at least once a month. When the District’s contact information is missing or out of date, the administrator is to search for current information, including up to two skip traces. Payments go out by check on a rolling basis, beginning within 60 days after the administrator receives the worker fund.The Attorney General’s office has not named the administrator. Its announcement says workers who believe their wage rights were violated can contact the office’s Workers’ Rights and Antifraud Section, and its contact options are listed on the Attorney General’s announcement.
What Happens Next?
The consent order counts its deadlines from the day the court enters it:- Within 7 days: Welch retains the administrator, and the District submits its proposed list of eligible workers.
- Within 30 days: Welch pays the $691,450 worker fund to the administrator and the first $154,275 penalty installment to the District, and the administrator drafts the notice and claim form.
- Within 35 days: the District gives the administrator a ledger of eligible workers and their contact information.
- Within 60 days: the administrator begins sending notices.
- One year after the administrator receives the worker fund: contact and payment duties end, and leftover money goes to the District.
Because the posted order does not show its entry date, those deadlines cannot yet be tied to calendar dates.
What Else Does the Consent Order Require?
For three years after the order is entered, Welch must follow terms aimed at preventing misclassification further down its contracting chain:- Add language to its DC subcontracts requiring compliance with District wage and hour laws, barring retaliation against workers who report violations and allowing termination for cause.
- Collect weekly certified payroll reports from every subcontractor on its DC projects for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
- Run at least one random payroll audit of each subcontractor on each DC project during those years, and act within 14 days when it learns a subcontractor is out of compliance.
- File an annual report with the District for 2026 through 2028 listing its DC subcontractors, with a signed compliance certification from each.
- Stop doing business with the nine subcontractors named in the order unless a subcontractor shows the District its workers were not misclassified or settles with the District.
- Post jobsite notices in English and Spanish about workers’ rights under DC law.
Sources and Verification
- DC Office of the Attorney General: Attorney General Schwalb Secures $1.7 Million in Connection with Misclassification of Construction Workers (October 13, 2026)
- Consent Order, District of Columbia v. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, et al., No. 2024 CAB 003811 (D.C. Super. Ct.) (PDF posted by the Attorney General)
Questions
Is the Welch Mechanical settlement a class action?
The Welch Mechanical case is a government enforcement action, not a class action. The District of Columbia sued under the Attorney General’s authority to seek back wages, damages and penalties under DC wage laws, and the payments to workers are set by a consent order between the District and Welch rather than by a class settlement approved after a fairness hearing. Private wage and misclassification cases are tracked on OCA’s wage and hour class actions page.
Did W.G./Welch Mechanical admit to misclassifying workers?
The consent order states that Welch denies the District’s claims and allegations, denies any violation of law and any wrongdoing, and that agreeing to the order is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability. The order also states that the District’s agreement is not a concession that its claims lacked merit.
Is Whiting-Turner paying the workers?
The Attorney General describes Whiting-Turner’s separate settlement agreement as changes to its subcontracting practices on DC projects: notification requirements for subcontractors, keeping records subcontractors provide about workers on its DC worksites, and contract provisions aimed at preventing misclassification. The announcement does not describe a payment by Whiting-Turner. The worker payments come from Welch.
What happens to money that eligible workers do not collect?
One year after the settlement administrator receives the $691,450 worker fund, whatever has not been paid out, less any credit owed to Welch for payments made under a separate private settlement, goes to the District. The order lets the Attorney General use that money for purposes such as the District’s restitution fund or litigation support fund.
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Settlement Amount
Up to $1,706,450
$691,450 for workers · $1,000,000 in penalties · up to $15,000 for administration
Case Title
District of Columbia v. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, et al.
Case Number
2024 CAB 003811
Court
Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division
Official Website
DC Attorney General Announcement
