he owners of a San Diego area roofing company that has offices and operations in the Central Valley have been ordered to pay $3 million in restitution to State Compensation Insurance Fund and have been sentenced to three years’ probation, State Fund says.
Paul Mayer and David Archer, owners of Mayer Roofing, were ordered to pay full restitution to State Fund plus investigation costs after pleading no contest to felony charges of conspiracy and workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
Along with Mr. Mayer, 52, and Mr. Archer, 62, two other officials of the company were previously sentenced in this case.
A grand jury indictment in February said that from 2001 to 2003, company officers created a scheme that underpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums by $3 million. They created false payroll records thus understating the company’s workers’ compensation premium, prosecutors said.
“These unfair practices enable unscrupulous employers to underbid honest competitors,” says San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. “This results in honest employers losing jobs and ultimately driving them out of business.”
The fraud was first uncovered by a routine audit by the State Compensation Insurance Fund.
Mayer Roofing was licensed in 1993, and does business throughout Southern California and Fresno. It employs nearly 450 employees and is engaged primarily in new home construction. The company is headquartered in Escondido and has offices in Riverside, San Fernando and Bakersfield.