Rhode Island contractors to pay back wages

A Rhode Island contractor agreed to pay more than $42,000 in back wages to employees it underpaid in public work projects in Massachusetts. The Associated Press reported that Coventry-based Midland Fire Protection was charged with paying 14 of its workers just a fraction of the state’s prevailing wage of $28-$40 an hour, so the firm agreed to pay employees the difference between what they received and the prevailing wage required under state law. The workers will get $163 to $6,752 in restitution.