San Francisco Regional Office

The San Francisco Regional Solicitor's Office (SF RSOL) litigates and provides legal support for the U.S. Department of Labor for civil matters arising in the following states and territories:

• Alaska
• America Samoa
• Arizona
• California
• Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Guam
• Hawaii
• Nevada
• Idaho
• Oregon
• Utah (EBSA matters only)
• Washington

The San Francisco Regional Solicitor's Office is comprised of approximately 42 staff across offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

Branch Offices

• Los Angeles, California
• Seattle, Washington

What We Do

The San Francisco Regional Solicitor's Office:

• Prosecutes litigation in U.S. District Courts and federal administrative courts;
• Supports and assists various DOL enforcement agencies with development of strategic enforcement cases; and
• Prepares legal interpretations and opinions.

SF RSOL attorneys litigate cases and advise client agencies in actions enforcing workplace protections for workers who have experienced wage theft, retaliation, unsafe workplaces, and other illegal employment practices. Client agencies include the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD). SF RSOL also represents the DOL in internal labor relations matters. Nearly half of the Region’s work arises from WHD investigations.

Many of our cases involve vulnerable workers, such as immigrants, workers on H-2A and H-2B visas, and employees misclassified as independent contractors. Reflecting the diversity of our Region, we litigate cases in a variety of industries including construction, logistics, food service, agriculture, home care, and mining.

Major Accomplishments

Taking Swift Action to Protect Employees Retirement Funds

SF RSOL successfully obtained judgment against Ascent Construction, Inc. (“Ascent”), a construction and general contractor company, and its CEO and co-owner Bradley L. Knowlton for engaging in multiple prohibited transactions in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The judgment amount of $288,874 restores losses to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and its participants. RSOL previously obtained a court order removing Knowlton as the plan’s sole trustee, after he attempted to drain the plan’s remaining funds during the DOL investigation. The Court also permanently removed Ascent and Knowlton as fiduciaries of the ESOP and the Ascent-sponsored 401(k) plan and barred them from serving as fiduciaries of ERISA-covered plans. The Court appointed independent fiduciaries to administer the plans.

• Press Release: Court orders removal of Utah company CEO, co-owner as retirement plan fiduciary after investigation finds misuse of $300K

Combatting Child Labor and Recovering Wages for Workers in the Poultry Processing Industry in Los Angeles

SOL obtained Consent Judgments covering millions in back wages and damages to workers who cut and package poultry products in the greater Los Angeles area. Stemming from a series of Wage and Hour Division investigations into Fair Labor Standards Act violations, SOL attorneys brought lawsuits seeking immediate relief from the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, to stop the employers from employing minors in hazardous occupations cutting chicken with sharp knives and operating forklifts, interfering with the DOL’s investigation, threatening retaliation against employees or firing employees for talking to investigators, and paying wages lower than required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The corporate and individuals were ordered to pay over $8.8 million in back wages, damages, and penalties.

• Press Releases: Department of Labor obtains order to force Los Angeles-area meat processor, staffing agency to give up $327K in profits from oppressive child labor
• Department of Labor finds children employed illegally in dangerous jobs, obtains $4.8M in wages, damages for poultry industry workers in California
• Department of Labor finds poultry processor illegally endangered children in dangerous jobs, robbed workers of wages, retaliated by firing workers

Protecting Workers and Trafficking Victims in Saipan and Recovering over $20,000,000 since 2017

Since 2017, SF RSOL has recovered over $20 million in back wages, liquidated damages, and civil money penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and H-2B regulations by Imperial Pacific International Holdings (IPI), Ltd, a Hong Kong entity. IPI brought thousands of workers, including hundreds of trafficking victims, to Saipan from various parts of the world to build a casino. After discovering IPI had stopped paying and providing electricity, food and water to employee housing, SF RSOL obtained humanitarian and monetary relief through negotiations and a 2019 consent judgment.

When IPI missed more than $2,000,000 in payroll and stopped providing basic necessities to workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, SF RSOL sought to hold IPI in contempt of the 2019 Consent Judgment. On January 21, 2021, a federal district court held IPI in contempt, issued a stop work order, ordered IPI to remedy the humanitarian conditions, and granted RSOL’s request to appoint a receiver who would sell IPI’s real property if it continued to default on its payments.

• Court Order: Order Finding Civil Contempt and Imposing a Stop Work Order

Safeguarding Employee Health Insurance Benefits and Resolving Over $70 Million in Unpaid Health Claims

SF RSOL obtained a consent judgment appointing a Receiver and enjoining “all hospitals, physicians, pharmacists, and other health care providers” from seeking to collect against any patient covered by the Riverstone Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA). The Riverstone MEWA was an underfunded “private exchange” that violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and jeopardized the health insurance claims of tens of thousands of patients it covered. A federal district court granted injunctive relief to the MEWA’s patients and appointed a receiver that has resolved over $70 million of Riverstone’s unpaid health claims. SF RSOL continues to work with the Receiver to resolve the remaining unpaid health claims of the plan.

• Press Release: U.S. Department of Labor Obtains Consent Judgment and Order Protecting Participants and Beneficiaries of Failing MEWA

Partnering with Community Groups to Combat Unlawful Payroll Schemes and Worker Intimidation

SF RSOL recovered $3.68 million in back wages, liquidated damages, interest and penalties from Unforgettable Coatings, Inc., a painting company operating in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. The employer deprived employees of overtime and also intimidated workers who questioned the company’s pay practices by, among other things, threatening immigration consequences, reducing all workers’ wages by 30 percent, and cutting employees’ hours if the employer believed that the worker cooperated with the investigation. The Department’s investigation included cooperation with the local district council of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and ARRIBA Las Vegas Workers Center, both of which provided useful information about workers and employment conditions.

• Press Release: Federal Court Requires Las Vegas Paint, Specialty Coatings Contractor who Intimidated Workers to Pay $3.6M to 593 Employees in Four States

Enforcing Safety and Health Standards to Protect Construction Workers from Excavation Hazards

SF RSOL prevailed on behalf of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in a trial against a military contractor that endangered construction workers at a Camp Pendleton, CA jobsite. Reyes Construction, Inc. exposed workers to potential death and serious injury when it required them to work inside an 8-foot-deep excavation that lacked adequate protection to prevent a cave-in. One side of the trench was completely unguarded and another had several feet of exposed soil. Reyes’ supervisors knew of these hazards and failed to remove workers from the trench. The administrative law judge affirmed four serious citation items as written by OSHA.

• Court Order: Decision and Order in Secretary of Labor v. Reyes Construction, Inc.

Combatting Retaliation in the Mining Industry, Securing over $94,000 in Damages and Enhancing Future Compliance

SF RSOL recovered over $9,000 in back pay and $85,400 in front pay from Swaggart Brothers, Inc. to compensate a miner who was fired after she reported violations of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act to her supervisor. After SF RSOL attorneys exposed Swaggart Brothers’ attempts to intimidate miners from speaking to MSHA and testifying truthfully at the upcoming trial, it agreed to broad enhanced compliance and injunctive terms that bolster future enforcement and paid $94,400 in damages to the complainant.

Ensuring Construction Workers are Paid Overtime

SF RSOL recovered $2.95 million in a global settlement of FLSA, Davis Bacon Act, and H-2B enforcement actions against Valley Wide Plastering, Inc., an Arizona construction company. The employer did not pay overtime to piece rate construction workers and tampered with and fabricated time records to hide actual hours worked. The employer also underpaid H-2B visa holders and workers fulfilling a government contract. As part of the settlement, the employer agreed to use a mobile timekeeping application to track hours worked, provide a notice of rights to employees, and be subject to an injunction that requires them to accurately record employees’ hours. The employer also agreed to be barred from participating in the H-2B program and from federal contracts for two years.

• Press Release: US Department of Labor seeking current, former Tempe plastering contractor’s workers owed share of $2.6M in back wages, damages

Taking Immediate Action to Protect Agricultural Workers on H-2A Visas and Ensure They Get Paid Their Lawful Wage

SF RSOL recovered $181,683 in back wages and $110,000 in civil money penalties for violations of the H-2A program by two agricultural companies, VH Harvesting, LLC and T & K Feeds, Inc. The agricultural companies required the temporary guest workers to perform interstate trucking using unsafe semi-trucks for up to 16 hours a day and threatened workers who complained with immigration consequences. Within weeks of obtaining a federal court temporary restraining order, SF RSOL obtained consent judgments requiring Defendants to pay full back wages owed to workers and civil money penalties and debarring Defendants from using the H-2A & H-2B programs to hire temporary workers. Several of the workers still in the United States received checks totaling thousands of dollars before returning to their home country.

• Press Release: US Labor Department obtains order stopping Arizona agricultural employer from abusing workers, exposing them to workplace dangers

Working with a Community Partner to Enforce Judgment for Care Home Workers

In collaboration with Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, SF RSOL enforced a contempt action against Elizabeth Palad and Razel Cortez, who owned six care home facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, for defying a court order mandating the payment of back wages and liquidated damages to caregivers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Despite the court order, the owners continued to violate the FLSA by requiring caregivers to work twenty-four hours a day, for five to seven days a week, at rates below federal minimum wage and without overtime premiums. SF RSOL recovered $376,000 for workers and required the employers’ practices to be monitored by an independent worker rights organization to prevent further violations.

Fighting for 1,300 Auto Parts Delivery Drivers Misclassified Independent Contractors

SF RSOL resolved an almost six-year-long civil action against Defendants Arizona Logistics, Inc. (operating as Diligent Delivery Systems), its owner Larry Browne, and Parts Authority Arizona, LLC through obtaining a $5.75 million Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction. Under the resolution, Defendants owe $5,600,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to their misclassified delivery drivers, and $150,000 in civil money penalties.

The drivers covered by the lawsuit were subject to mandatory arbitration clauses. During the litigation, SOL successfully defeated Mr. Browne’s motion to compel the Secretary to arbitration. In 2021, the Ninth Circuit held that, under the Supreme Court’s holding in EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279 (2002), the Secretary could not be compelled to arbitration, even if employees were parties to an arbitration agreement.

• Press Release: Department of Labor obtains judgment ordering auto parts seller, logistics company to pay $5.6M to 1,398 misclassified drivers

Examples of Relief Obtained for Workers

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AGENCIES SUPPORTED:

• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
• Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• Office of Labor-Management and Standards (OLMS)
• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

CONTACT THE REGIONAL SOLICITOR'S OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN REGION