Westbury, NY - May 22, 2018 - Acting Attorney General Barbara Underwood today announced the guilty pleas and sentences of Nassau County business owners Roy S. Tuccillo Sr. and Roy Tuccillo Jr. for repeatedly failing to pay workers at their food-processing plant their required overtime and minimum wages from 2013 until 2017, ultimately stealing $120,555 from 10 workers and falsifying payroll records to conceal the wage theft.
“Workers are entitled to a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” said Acting Attorney General Underwood. “Our office will continue to protect that right and prosecute labor violations to the fullest extent of the law.”
Roy S. Tuccillo Sr. ran Diversified Processors, Inc. and Processors Inc., a meat-processing facility located at 32 Urban Avenue in Westbury, New York, for approximately 20 years. The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Tuccillo Sr. and Tuccillo Jr. (who operated the facility with Tuccillo Sr.) exploited workers in several ways, including:
- telling workers that they would be paid only for their first 40 hours of work per week, even though they often worked 60 or more hours.
- failing to maintain workers’ compensation insurance -- despite the hazards workers faced operating sharp, heavy equipment in fast-paced food processing, and a history of worker injuries resulting from accidents at the facility. In 2016, the Worker’s Compensation Board issued a Stop-Work order because the facility did not have worker’s compensation insurance.
The investigation also found that the defendants did not retain the time cards that workers used to punch in and out, and then deliberately falsified those workers’ hours, using several different payroll provider companies. The defendants wrongfully withheld and stole the unpaid wages in violation of New York labor and criminal law.
Roy S. Tuccillo Sr., Diversified Processors, Inc., and Processors Inc., pled guilty on March 27th, 2018 to one count of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree (a class E felony) and one count of Failure to Pay Wages (an unclassified misdemeanor) in Nassau County Supreme Court before the Honorable Robert A. Schwartz. Roy Tuccillo Jr. also pled guilty on March 27th to one count of Failure to Pay Wages (an unclassified misdemeanor) for his involvement in the crimes. Roy Tuccillo Jr., Diversified Processors, Inc., and Processors, Inc., were each sentenced to conditional discharges and a $500 fine. On May 21st, 2018, Roy S. Tuccillo, Sr., was sentenced to 3 years of felony probation, the restitution payment of $120,555 and an additional $500 fine.
The Attorney General’s office thanks the United States Department of Labor for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution, specifically the Wage and Hour Division, Long Island District Director Irv Miljoner, Assistant District Director William Dempsey, Investigators Lisa Mikita and Peter Rozo, the United States Department of Labor Office of the Solicitor, Trial Attorney Jason Glick, and former Senior Trial Attorney Elena Goldstein, under the supervision of Wage and Hour Counsel Molly Biklen. The Acting Attorney General also thanks the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board and the New York State Insurance Fund for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution, specifically Workers’ Compensation Investigator Marie-Elena Goodwin, under the supervision of Senior Workers’ Compensation Investigator Jonathan Tisk, and NYSIF Underwriter Marcia Alleyne, under the supervision of Supervising Investigator Benedict Emengo.
The Attorney General’s investigation was handled by Investigators Elsa Rojas, Brian Metz, Melissa Kaplan, Angel Laporte, Anna Ospanova, Walter Lynch, and Ramon Almodovar; Senior Investigators Tony Angiulo and Luis Martinez; and Supervising Investigators Sylvia Rivera and Michael Leahy; all under the supervision of Deputy Chief Investigator John McManus and Chief Dominick Zarrella.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Pfetsch, with the assistance of Legal Assistant Yadira Filpo, and Tyisha Bedford. It is being supervised by the Labor Bureau’s Criminal Section Chief Richard Balletta, Labor Bureau Chief ReNika Moore, Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau Chief Stephanie Swenton, Executive Deputy Attorney General for Social Justice Matthew Colangelo, Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Margaret Garnett, and Chief Deputy Attorney General Alvin Bragg.