NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Long Island grocer was arrested Tuesday for refusing to cooperate with court orders demanding records relating to the company’s pay practices, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
The U.S. Marshals Service took the owner of Cross Island Fruits, Joseph Rossi, of Bay Shore, into custody for not complying with the request of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to view his company’s pay records, the agency said.
“Joseph Rossi now knows that refusing to comply with a federal investigation can have significant consequences, including arrest,” Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York said. “Rossi’s arrest shows the U.S. Department of Labor is committed to using every available and appropriate legal tool to gather the facts, enforce the law and make sure employers do not hold the law in contempt.”
Rossi continually failed to provide subpoenaed documents to the department which was attempting to determine if the pay practices of Cross Island Fruits, on Hempstead Ave. in Lynbrook, complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act, authorities said.
In November, the Office of the Solicitor obtained a court order that found Rossi in contempt and assessed a $250 fine per day until he complied.
When that didn’t work, on Nov. 17, the office obtained a court order for the U.S. Marshals to arrest and detain Rossi, officials said.
Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Mark Watson Jr. said that “Employers cannot avoid their legal responsibilities by refusing to cooperate with investigators and withholding records they request.”