Federal Judge Orders Owner of Southern California Drywall Company To Cooperate in U.S. Department of Labor Probe of Alleged Wage Violations

LOS ANGELES, CA – The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has ordered Gary Tetone, owner of Southern California-based company GT Drywall, to comply with U.S. Department of Labor investigators in a long-running Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation with which he has refused to cooperate since 2016.

WHD issued a subpoena to GT Drywall in Chino Hills and Tetone in November 2016, as part of its investigation of potential wage violations. Tetone has refused to provide a single document and has delayed the U.S. Department of Labor’s actions to secure his compliance since then. The Department’s Office of the Solicitor obtained a warrant for his arrest, which law enforcement officers carried out in February 2018.

Following Tetone’s arrest and incarceration, federal Judge Jesus Bernal released him and ordered him to furnish the documents requested in the subpoena to WHD within 14 days, and to meet with WHD investigators as many times as necessary in the following 28 days to answer questions.

Judge Bernal admonished Tetone, informing him that failure to abide by these conditions would result in the court issuing another warrant for his arrest. The court deferred to a later date enforcement of the more than $48,000 in contempt penalties and $5,200 in attorney’s fees owed by Tetone.

“The court has put this case on the path to closure,” said Janet Herold, the Department of Labor’s Regional Solicitor. “Tetone has been refusing to produce documents necessary for the Department to complete its investigation. “The U.S. Department of Labor takes all of its investigations seriously, and we expect employers like Tetone to do the same.”

Tetone has ignored numerous orders by the court, as well as multiple letters from the Department. He has also evaded service of process throughout the subpoena enforcement action in federal court. At one point, Tetone lied about his identity to WHD investigators who attempted to serve him with the Secretary of Labor’s enforcement petition, claiming to be a “pool guy” hired to work at his residence. Given his refusal to cooperate with the court’s order enforcing the Department’s subpoena, the court found Tetone and his company in contempt, and imposed a daily fine of $500 until both complied with the subpoena.

Workers and employers with questions about the Fair Labor Standards Act or any of the federal wage laws administered by the Division should call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).