Business news briefs for September 30, 2005

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 | 10:37 a.m.

Companies to cover subcontractors' workers pay

Five local homebuilders have agreed to pay the Nevada Labor Commissioner's office $277,640 in unpaid wages on behalf of about 100 workers after a subcontractor closed shop in June without paying its employees.

Summit Drywall & Paint left the workers without three weeks worth of wages they were owed, Amanda Getzoff, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Business & Industry, said. She said the agency was unable to track down the company's owners but five other companies involved in projects with the subcontractor have agreed to pick up the tab.

A phone number listed for the Summit Drywall was disconnected.

Homebuilder DR Horton paid the Labor Commissioner's office $258,753, while Beazer Homes paid $3,887. Three other homebuilders have agreed to pay another $15,000 for the unpaid wages, but have yet to do so, Getzoff said. The workers will be issued checks on Oct. 12.

Getzoff said the turnaround time for getting the workers their wages was faster in this instance than in most cases because the homebuilders were willing to pay.

The agency also assisted one Summit Drywall foreman who was about to lose his home to foreclosure by sending a letter to the lender explaining when the foreman would be paid. Getzoff said she couldn't say whether the lender refrained from its foreclosure action because of the letter.

Company sells NLV land

Station Casinos Inc. has sold about 34 acres of land in North Las Vegas to Celebrate Investment LLC. Station had leased the land for several years and had once planned to build a casino on the parcel, which is near the southwest corner of Craig Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Surrounding residents objected to the casino proposal at the time, and Station, which later acquired the Fiesta and Santa Fe casinos in North Las Vegas, decided that a casino didn't make sense there.

Station exercised an option to buy the land last week, paying about $21.2 million. The company, which had allowed the right to build a gaming property on the land to expire, sold it the same day to Celebrate for $18.4 million.

DETROIT:

The Ford Motor Co. said on Thursday that it planned to cut in half the number of companies supplying it with major auto parts, such as seats and instrument panels. It was the latest cost-cutting initiative by the financially troubled automaker.