NY contractor refuses to pay for safety ad campaign after manslaughter conviction

By Kim Slowey | July 14, 2016

Dive Brief:

  • A New York judge Wednesday ordered general contractor Harco Construction to pay for a safety ad campaign as part of its guilty sentence for an April 2015 trench-related worker death, but a Harco attorney said the company will not comply, according to The Wall Street Journal.
  • A Harco attorney said the court-ordered, televised and printed English-Spanish public safety announcement campaign is a violation of the company’s First Amendment rights and would be equivalent to an admission of guilt.
  • Harco, which said it plans to appeal, was convicted last month of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of immigrant worker Carlos Moncayo, who was killed in a trench collapse on a Harco job site. If the company does not pay for the PSA campaign, it faces a maximum fine of $10,000.

 

Dive Insight:

The judge could have fined Harco $35,000 but instead chose the alternate sentence of the PSA campaign, DNAinfo reported. Harco attorney Ron Fischetti told the court that the company is innocent and that the blame for the accident should rest with Moncayo’s employer, Sky Materials Corp, which is set to go on trial as well for its part in the trench collapse.

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