Federal court orders Arizona construction employer to pay coercive fines of up to $120K every three months if it continues to falsify employee time records

Date of actions:         May 5 and May 27, 2022

Type of action:          Contempt Orders

Names of defendants:  Valley Wide Plastering Inc.; Jesse Guerrero; Rose Guerrero; J.R. Guerrero

Allegations:  Valley Wide Plastering, its owners and its vice president failed to comply with the court’s preliminary injunction by continuing to keep false records of employees’ hours worked and pay rates, failing to implement a reliable timekeeping system for each employee to document their time worked and failing to provide current contact information for all employees.

Resolution: The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona granted the U.S. Department of Labor’s motion for civil contempt sanctions against Valley Wide Plastering Inc., its owners and its vice president for maintaining false records, failing to maintain a reliable timekeeping system and listing false regular rates on payroll records. If Valley Wide Plastering, its owners and its vice president continue to keep false records, the court will order the company to pay fines of up to $10,000 per week, every three months, potentially costing the employer $120,000 every 90 days. The court also ordered Valley Wide Plastering to pay all reasonable attorneys’ fees and investigative costs and enjoined the company from instructing employees to record or certify false hours worked. In addition, the court ordered Valley Wide Plastering, its owners and its vice president to arrange for representatives of the department’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Solicitor to meet with all Valley Wide employees to inform them of the contempt order, and provide training on the Fair Labor Standards Act’s recordkeeping requirements during which the company’s owners and vice president must attend.

Docket Number:          2:18-cv-04756- GMS

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