Houston laborers are planning to address the Harris Health Board of Trustees on Wednesday with claims of wage theft and retaliation that they say they’ve experienced on the job while building a $1.6 billion hospital in northeast Houston.
The workers are accusing subcontractors with McCorvey Sheet Metal, Phoenix Insulation and Chaparral Insulation, among others, of shorting laborers on their hours, paying less than the required minimum wage for their trade and withholding benefits.
While their primary complaint is with the subcontractors, the laborers say the Harris Health board writes the checks, sets the contract terms and runs a contractor diversity program that’s supposed to prevent such things from happening.
Hany Khalil, executive director of Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, said workers have been coming forward since October with “disturbing allegations,” claiming they’ve been collectively deprived of at least $489,000 in lost wages and benefits. When the workers have questioned their paychecks, some were fired or, as alleged by those working for McCorvey Sheet Metal, forced to sign letters saying the matter was resolved, Khalil said.
“The workers get up before dawn to pour the concrete, run electrical wires, weld the beams, and install the hospital’s air conditioning, plumbing, windows and insulation,” Khalil said. “The men and women hired on this project have shown up. They have put in the hours. And then, when payday came, we learned that some of these workers were told that some of those hours didn’t count, some of those wages aren’t owed or that some of the benefits wouldn’t be paid, and if they complained, they could go find another job.”
Harris County voters approved a $2.5 billion bond in 2023, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital expansion was to be the “marquee project.” Harris Health officials broke ground on the new building in May 2024, championing the project as an opportunity to expand and modernize Harris Health, the public hospital system serving Harris County’s uninsured and underinsured residents.
The new 12-story hospital with a Level 1 trauma center is expected to open in late 2028, according to a press release from Harris Health.
“Harris Health promised to the workers who would build this hospital expansion that this would be a fair, lawful, well-run project, but that promise is being broken right now,” Khalil said. “The Harris Health Board of Trustees has the power and the obligation to do something about it.”
The Houston Press contacted the subcontractors named by the union leaders at a press conference Tuesday morning. They either had no comment, said they weren’t aware of the allegations or didn’t immediately respond to voice mails.
Update, 3:30 p.m., May 12, 2026: Tom Nesbitt, an Austin-based attorney for Chaparral Insulation, said the company believes it is in full compliance and has received no complaints. “Not an internal complaint to human resources, not a complaint to a supervisor on that job site, not from an employee or this labor union that held the press conference, of any violation of the wage and hour laws or the prevailing wage laws,” Nesbitt said.
Harris Health provided the following statement:
“Harris Health is committed to integrity, accountability, and respect for the skilled tradespeople supporting the expansion project. Harris Health requires contractors and subcontractors on the project to comply with prevailing wage requirements and all applicable labor laws as part of this critical community investment.
“To support this commitment, Harris Health has engaged a third‑party auditor to assist in reviewing wage‑related claims that have been raised. Harris Health takes all claims seriously and is following statutory requirements to review and respond appropriately, while continuing to exercise oversight to promote lawful and responsible use of public funds.”
The laborers plan to air their grievances before the Harris Health Board of Trustees, which meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 13, at 4800 Fournace Place, Bellaire. Public comments are heard before agenda items and the meetings are streamed online.
Khalil said he expects the board to explain why workers haven’t been properly paid. “We want them to say they’re going to take action, starting with back pay for all those workers who have not received it,” he said. “We need stronger reforms. Harris Health said this would be built to serve the community and workers would be treated fairly along the way. That’s not happening. That’s what they need to fix.”
It’s not the first time the matter has been discussed publicly. Labor union officials spoke at an April 16 meeting of the Harris County Commissioners Court and said afterward that it appeared commissioners were supportive of their effort to seek back pay and reform of how contracts are managed. However, nothing changed. A formal complaint has been filed with the county’s Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity.
Rafael Rivas, representing SMART Local 54, said it’s difficult to nail down a total dollar figure of the wages lost by workers across each industry. He said he reviewed pay stubs and certified payroll records and found that 130 of 179 sheet metal workers were underpaid just in medical benefits. A DEEO investigation found that about $489,000 was owed to 130 workers, but that’s not a comprehensive audit of all the workers who questioned their payment, Rivas said.
“It’s hard to say what the final count is going to be, but it’s a lot of money,” he said. Some workers who have done the same job and worked the same number of hours have received checks in different amounts, even though they are designated a “prevailing wage” based on their trade, which includes a set hourly rate plus fringe benefits.
Rivas said he has text messages from contractors attempting to hire him for the LBJ Hospital job at a rate below the prevailing wage for sheet metal workers, which is $43.55 per hour. He said he was offered $35 per hour.
Armando Aguirre, business manager of SMART Local 54, said for the past week he’s been running a “handbill operation,” where he talks to workers at the job site and advises them of their rights. The sheet metal workers told him that officials with McCorvey demanded they sign letters “falsely stating that they received the back pay and medical [benefits] they were owed, or else be fired.”
The union leaders shared a blown-up version of the letter with reporters at a press conference Tuesday at Hutcheson Park, across Interstate 610 from the LBJ Hospital project. Workers did not attend the gathering for fear of retaliation but are expected to show up at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Lacy Wolf, business manager of Heat & Frost Insulators Local 22, said workers have documentation from Phoenix and Chaparral, two non-union insulation contractors on the Harris Health project, proving a “pattern of abuse.”
“Workers have come forward with evidence showing wages being withheld, off-the-clock labor and deductions being taken from paychecks for medical benefits and pension plans that the workers are actually not receiving,” Wolf said. “Let me say that clearly. Workers are being cheated out of money that is rightfully owed to them to increase the profit of the contractor.”
Rixi Castillo, director of business development at International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 10, said some of the “glaziers” — tradesmen who install glass and glass substitutes — have been paid in cash and were never issued insurance cards.
Castillo added that patients, hospital workers and taxpayers deserve high-quality facilities built by people who take pride in their work. “This is not possible when contractors are exploiting workers,” she said. “They’re not just cheating workers. They’re defrauding taxpayers and shortchanging our entire community.”
“If Harris Health board members are committed to ensuring fair and safe working conditions, they must hold these workers accountable,” she said.
