Contractor charged with wage theft during Barrington Middle School construction

Owners of an asbestos remediation company failed to pay employees for weekend overtime during the construction of Barrington Middle School, according to the attorney general's office. 

Five former employees are owed at least $12,000 by Franklin Analytical Service, based in Marion, Massachusetts, according to a news release. Two of the company's owners, Thomas McCoog, 64, and Amy Franklin, 57, face misdemeanor charges. 

McCoog and Franklin filed a false certified payroll document with the Town of Barrington while knowingly failing to pay employees overtime for their work on weekends, the attorney general's office said. 

Each faces five counts of failure to pay overtime on a prevailing-wage job, one count of conspiracy to failure to pay overtime wages, one count of conspiracy to file false certified payroll, and one count of filing a false certified payroll document.

Construction on the new middle school, which cost $68 million, was completed in 2019. The asbestos remediation took place from June to September that year, according to the attorney general's office. 

McCoog and Franklin were arraigned Tuesday and scheduled for a pretrial conference in November, according to the statement. 

A woman who answered the phone at Franklin Analytical Service said that the company had no comment.