Andy Warhol is one of Pittsburgh’s favorite sons.
The Campbell Soup can painter and media provocateur is the hometown attraction of The Andy Warhol Museum on the North Shore of Pittsburgh.
All is not well in Warhol-land, however. The Andy Warhol Bridge spans the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, one of three nearly identical bridges known as the “Three Sisters” to locals.
A whistleblower lawsuit claims that the bridge was also the scene of labor violations.
A former county councilman named Edward Kress teamed up with the Carnegie-based International Union of Painters & Allied Trades District Council 57 to file the whistleblower suit.
The lawsuit accused the Florida painting company of using undocumented immigrant workers during the rehabilitation of the Warhol Bridge in 2016. The suit alleged that the immigrant workers had been misclassified as a scheme to pay them less than the prevailing wage.
Last month, the painting company agreed to a settlement requiring them to pay $338,000.
“This is a great example of how unions and private citizens can partner with our government to hold companies accountable for fraud against taxpayers and in protecting American workers,” said Andrew Stone, the attorney who represented the whistleblowers.
For painting contractors, it’s another sign to be cautious. As this case shows, all it takes is for a whistleblower to come forward to create a big money liability.
