A March 10 U.S. Department of Labor news release reported workplace safety violations at four Bergen County worksites led a federal judge to order a New Jersey business owner to pay $2 million in penalties.
Juan Quevedo-Garcia, owner of BB Frame LLC, was subject to five inspections, beginning in December 2019, by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that ended with 30 violations resulting in citations, the release stated. The release reported Quevedo-Garcia is "one of New Jersey's most flagrant violators of federal workplace safety laws."
“Among construction industry employers, Juan Quevedo-Garcia and his shell companies have been the most prominent OSHA scofflaws in New Jersey in the past decade,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said. “The administrative law judge’s decision stops this employer from ignoring safety in the future and sets a critical precedent that the U.S. Department of Labor will use every enforcement and legal tool available against serial violators who attempt to evade federal safety laws with corporate shell games.”
OSHA identified a total of eight willful, 10 repeats and 12 serious violations. The violations creating hazards included failure to use fall, head and eye protection. The companies reportedly failed to provide stair rails or forklift training, used stepladders unsafely and were deficient in fire, housekeeping and scaffolding safety, according to the release.
Quevedo-Garcia deliberately failed to pay the fines, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker said. He said Quevedo-Garcia disregarded his workers’ safety and the law.
“This ruling sends a clear message that business owners who abuse the system to avoid responsibility will be held legally accountable when they fail to uphold their obligation to provide a safe workplace and think they can ignore federal fines,” Parker said in the release.
