UST UST Dry Utilities Fraud Ontario, California

EMPLOYEE PAYROLL FRAUD
My husband was hired by UST to do a job in Corona, CA.  He was hired at prevailing wage.  Not only was his first check two weeks late, but imagine our surprise when his first check included several bogus deductions, in essence, reducing his per hour rate by about $20.  He continued to work for UST and the second paycheck was two weeks late also while the third paycheck was four weeks late and the remaining paychecks never were provided.  As many others have stated, the Bell brothers were unreachable and the secretary was left to answer to irate workers until she walked off the job, too.  We learned early on to take the check directly to the bank it was drawn on. 

When we contacted the Dept of Industrial Relations, we were told that this company has a habit of hiring workers and not paying.  When those workers had enough, they'd just hire a new batch of employees.  In the State of California, it is illegal to hire someone and not pay them as by the act of hiring, you are stating you have the cash to pay that employee.  We were also told that UST had filed a fraudulent bankruptcy filing -- they had cash and were just spending it elsewhere. 

They ended up owing my husband over $20K which turned into a class action lawsuit.  It was the bond holder left to settle with the employees looking to settle on wages owed.  We only got a fraction of the $20K.  UST was getting big bucks from the government for this government job and completely screwing over its employees.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS MAINTENANCE
I handle telecommunications at my company.  One of our staff in Washington sends me an invoice today asking why we are being billed for telephone maintenance.  When I see the copy of the invoice, I see it's UST in Ontario up to its usual tricks.  What a bunch of scammers!!  Looks like the government jobs dried up since their license must be flagged for all sorts of fraud with employees so now they are preying on unsuspecting businesses.   You can bet that I'm notifying each and every one of our offices to NOT pay any invoices from UST.  Period.  I already checked to be sure no invoices had snuck in yet (they hadn't).  I sure hope karma takes care of these crooks preying on hard working employees and companies.  If you receive a bill like this -- DO NOT PAY IT -- it is for maintenance, which from its track record, UST will never fulfill.  Not to mention $350 is dirt cheap for maintenance, so my guess is they are just trying to make it cheap enough to get paid without making it too much to get attention and questions.