The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment ordering two commonly owned Arizona drywall and painting companies to pay $7,450,000 in back wages and damages after investigators found the employers willfully denied overtime pay to more than 1,400 employees.
The Jan. 15, 2025 judgment by the U.S. District Court of the District of Arizona follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found Apodaca Wall Systems Inc. and Empire Wall Systems Inc. in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The companies, owned by Arnold Apodaca and his children Michael and Brittany Apodaca, attempted to evade payment of overtime wages by paying hourly employees with multiple checks at straight-time rates for all hours worked. They also used labor brokers to hire hourly workers who were paid in cash at straight time even when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek.
Additionally, the companies paid a piece rate, based on square feet completed, to workers outside the company’s payroll without regard to the number of hours worked. Crew leads received and then redistributed the piece-rate pay to these workers, denying them overtime pay required by law.
Read more in the press release here.