Brooklyn tortilla factory sentenced for labor law violations
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman on Monday announced the conviction and sentencing of Erasmo Ponce, the owner of Tortilleria Chinantla Inc., a corn tortilla factory in Brooklyn.
Ponce pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in June and was ordered to pay nearly $450,000 in restitution, including the amount needed to cover a death benefit paid by the state Worker’s Compensation Board to the daughter of a worker who was killed at the factory in 2011. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail by Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Alexander Jeong.
“All of our labor laws – minimum wage laws, the workers’ compensation law, safety and health laws – exist to protect vulnerable workers and ensure a basic safety net of protection,” Schneiderman said.
In addition to the jail term, Ponce has paid $447,943.11 in restitution. Of that, $300,000 goes to the Workers Compensation Board to reimburse the cost of a benefit payment made to worker Juan Baten’s young daughter. Another $138,000 will go to the New York State Department of Labor to cover overtime wages owed Ponce’s 28 employees during the six-year period from 2006 to 2011 when they were not paid the legally required overtime wages. The remaining $9,943.11 will go to formerly unpaid unemployment insurance taxes.