Crime & Safety

Huntington Man Accused of Cheating Workers

State attorney general says cleaning company, owner face multiple charges.


A Huntington businessman was arrested Wednesday and accused of failing to pay his workers properly.

State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Jose Hector Hernandez Gramajo, the owner of Royal Commercial Cleaning, was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court for failing to pay proper wages to workers he assigned to clean the United Artists Sheepshead Bay Stadium 14 movie theater.
 
Hernandez and his cleaning company face felony grand larceny and scheme to defraud, among other criminal charges, for making his employees kick back money owed to them from a previous federal investigation, for filing false applications for Workers Compensation Insurance and for filing false quarterly state tax returns to avoid paying unemployment insurance. He faces up to 7 years behind bars.

"A federal agency caught this employer underpaying his employees and even after that, he continued breaking the law," said Attorney General Schneiderman.

 Gramajo, 37, of Huntington operates Royal Commercial Cleaning out of his home. The business cleans at least 27 movie theaters in the New York area.

In November 2011 and because of a previous investigation by the United States Department of Labor, Hernandez owed a total of nearly $87,000, including for back wages to some of his 33 employees. According to the attorney general’s criminal complaint,  Hernandez gave those employees checks for more than $3,000 and told them to cash the checks and return the money to him. Hernandez told the employees that if they didn't return the money they would not have jobs.

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In addition to stealing their back-wages, Hernandez and his company paid most of their employees a flat rate of $700 or $800 twice a month and did not pay employees overtime for hours worked over 40 hours a week, the complaint said. In general, these employees worked seven days a week, eight hours a day. For these workers, the flat rate was less than the minimum wage. The crew foreman was also paid a flat rate and did not receive overtime pay for the more than 56 hours a week he worked each week.

He and his company were charged with two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, a class D Felony, one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree, a class E felony, violations of the Workers Compensation Law, class E felonies, three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, class E felonies, six counts of failure to pay wages in accordance with the Labor Law, an unclassified misdemeanor, and one count of willful failure to pay contributions - Unemployment Insurance under the Labor Law, an unclassified misdemeanor and one count of Retaliation, a class B misdemeanor. Hernandez faces up to 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.

Find out what's happening in Huntingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

New York State's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. After 40 hours worked, employers are required to pay overtime at one and a half times an employee's rate of pay. It is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees for reporting violations of the labor law.


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