Flores

BACKGROUND

In late August 2003, the Los Angeles Unified School Dis- trict awarded a construction contract to general contractor 3164 TRUSTEES v. FLORES DJM/Borbon for the Commonwealth Avenue and Hoover Elementary School Safety and Technology Upgrades Project. Flores, an individual doing business as BHF Electrical Con- tractors (“BHF”), worked as an electrical subcontractor on the project.

On October 1, 2003, Flores signed a Subscription Agree- ment with Local Union 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in which he agreed to make pension trust fund contributions on behalf of his employees. In addition to the Subscription Agreement, Flores’ obligation to make trust fund contributions was regulated by a Project Stabilization Agreement (“PSA”), the Local Union 11 Inside Wiremen’s Agreement (“IWA”) and other trust agreements.

Flores began work on the project in October 2003. Sections 4.6 and 4.8 of the PSA obligated Flores to hire all project workers, excluding his core employees, from the union’s referral system, unless the referral system did not fulfill Flo- res’ request within forty-eight hours. In October and Novem- ber 2003, Flores made…