June 30, 2015
Two owners of a roofing business were held in custody for a week because they failed to comply with a court order to pay $195,170 in OSHA fines.
Guillermo Perez and Elma Maldonado, president and vice president of GP Roofing & Construction LLC in Palm Coast, FL, were taken into custody on June 16, 2015, and were held until a hearing on June 23.
A federal court ordered the arrest of Perez and Maldonado because their company failed to comply with a March 30, 2015, civil contempt order.
A court held GP and its officers in civil contempt and ordered it to pay the outstanding OSHA fines against it plus interest and fees. The court also required the company to certify that it had corrected violations found by OSHA.
At the June 23 hearing, the pair were released on signature bonds to make progress on complying with the contempt order.
Perez and Maldonado were given 30 days to work on paying all outstanding penalties or demonstrating their inability to pay but still certifying they have abated the OSHA violations from previous inspections. Another hearing is set for Aug. 26, 2015.
OSHA went to court to enforce final orders from the Occupational Safety and Health Review commission regarding nine of the agency’s inspections of GP Roofing work sites in Florida between Aug. 3, 20111 and Oct. 29, 2012.
The citations allege multiple willful, repeat and serious violations of OSHA fall protection, face protection, ladder and other standards.
In October 2014, OSHA also issued $339,900 in fines against GP Roofing for protective gear, ladder and fall protection violations.
OSHA obtained a court order on Aug. 7, 2013, enforcing the final OSHRC orders.
“This enforcement action demonstrates that OSHA can and will take action to ensure that standards are followed and that companies like GP Roofing that ignore multiple court orders requiring correction of violations and payment of penalties will be held accountable,” said Kurt Petermeyer, the regional administrator of OSHA in Atlanta.
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