Boss pleads guilty to worker-misclassification under Pennsylvania’s Construction Workers Misclassification Act

From the Daily Times, Alex Rose reports that a man pled guilty to felony charges of misclassifying workers under Pennsylvania’s Construction Workers Misclassification Act. Alex writes: 

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — One of four people accused of misclassifying employees as “independent contractors” in order to avoid paying taxes pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft and related charges.

Armando Garcia-Ramirez, 55, of the 2100 block of South Queen Street in York, entered a negotiated guilty plea before Common Pleas Court Judge John Capuzzi to theft by unlawful taking and conspiracy to workers compensation fraud, both felonies of the third degree, as well as improper classification of workers, a third-degree misdemeanor.

Capuzzi sentenced Garcia-Ramirez to time served to 23 months with one year of consecutive probation under a negotiated guilty plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Schneider, chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, Chief Deputy Attorney General Nancy Walker, who assisted on the case, and defense counsel James Bonner.

Garcia-Ramirez, owner of G&R Drywall and Framing LLC, was charged with his wife and business partner, Martha Guzman, 45, their daughter and employee, Stephanie Garcia Rivera, 26, and Angelita Paulin-Santos, 39, of the 600 block of Smith Street in York, in what county District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said last month appeared to be the first actual use of a decade-old law aimed at cracking down on worker misclassification.

Act 72 of 2011, dubbed the Construction Workers Misclassification Act, provides that independent contractors must be autonomous, with their own business, performing tasks at “arm’s-length” for contractual payment….

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