They got fined for breaking labor laws. Founder says it made them ‘a better company’
A roofing company in the Boise area must pay tens of thousands of dollars to employees and the federal government for numerous labor-law violations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department told the Statesman that Eagle-based Cano Roofing Inc. — which does business as Signature Roofing — broke overtime and child labor laws between July 2017 and July 2019.
Cano Roofing/Signature Roofing must pay $48,206 to 68 employees for unpaid overtime, the labor department said Monday in a news release. It also must pay $5,526 in civil penalties for the child labor violations, the release said.
“We thought (the department’s decisions) were fair, based on the letter of the law,” company founder Joel Cano told the Statesman on Tuesday. “We learned a lot from it. We became a better company because of it.”
The violations listed in the release included:
▪ Employing a 16-year-old to perform roofing work and to use a power grinder.
▪ Permitting a 17-year-old to drive and service a company truck whose weight and size exceeded the maximums permitted for employees under 18 years old.
The overtime violations applied to 68 workers, the agency said.
According to the news release, Signature paid workers on a piece-rate basis, per square foot, on residential roofing projects. The business did not keep a record of the hours the workers put in. It also failed to pay overtime to three hourly workers and failed to pay workers for short rest breaks.
Cano said he didn’t realize the teenage employees weren’t allowed to do the type of work they were doing. For example, the 17-year-old had taken the company’s Chevy truck to the car wash and brought it back, he said.
“We don’t feel like a victim here. The law is the law,” he said. “We’re happy to follow it. Happy to pay those fines.”
He said the unpaid overtime was partly due to employees clocking back in early from lunch. He said the amount was small relative to the company’s payroll. He said Signature Roofing paid more than $6 million, and more than a half-million dollars overtime, during the two years the department investigated.
In addition to the violations announced Monday, the company was fined for worker safety violations in January. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company $20,871 for serious and repeated violations. The company was found to have worker-safety violations in three OSHA inspections since 2015. The January violations involved ladder safety and lack of protection to keep workers from falling.
“Employers must understand and comply with child labor requirements, and provide a safe and healthy on-the-job experience when they hire young workers,” said Thomas Silva, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Seattle regional office, in a news release. “Employers are also required to pay their employees all the wages they have legally earned.”
The Wage and Hour Division in January said an investigation led a Meridian concrete-floor polishing company to pay four workers nearly $48,000 in past unpaid overtime and travel time to and from job sites.
The department said in Monday’s news release that it encourages employers and workers to call 866-4US-WAGE or use guides on the department’s website “to avoid violations like those found in this investigation.”
Employers who self-report overtime or wage violations can resolve them without litigation through the PAID program, the release said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story listed the incorrect age of an employee and has been corrected. Comments from a company official have been added to the story.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
