A North Wales man who owns sealcoating and paving company Monster Paving LLC, authorities allege, paid employees as contractors in two Delaware County jobs, thus violating Commonwealth wage laws regarding worker misclassifications and skirting payroll taxes and unemployment compensation, according to The Reporter.
Joshua Dallas, 43, is facing a count of violating the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act of 2010, for allegedly misclassifying employes as subcontractors, per the report, for the Gateway Slopes project in Lansdowne and the Meadowgreen Park project in Springfield Township.
Dallas’s bail was set at $50,000 unsecured by District Judge James Merkins, and a preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 28 before District Judge Michael Culp.
“Worker misclassification is a crime, and — as our previous prosecutions have demonstrated — my office is committed to making sure that business owners understand that there will be consequences for breaking the laws designed to protect our workers,” said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer in a press release. “Worker misclassification is theft: It deprives the commonwealth of revenue, as well as depriving workers of the protections that our laws are intended to provide.”
Per the report, the law states that independent contractors must be autonomous and own a business and perform tasks for a contractor on an “arm’s length” basis for contracts.
Two of Dallas’s employees – Richard Giangiulio, a heavy equipment operator since 2019, and Flavio Quinto – told Delaware County criminal investigation detectives and Pennsylvania Foundation for Fair Contracting that they allegedly received IRS form 1099-Non-Employee Compensation for their work. Giangiulio, authorities allege, was given $9,418 for his work, and Flavio allegedly received a 1099-NEC for $10,081 for work in 2019 and 2021, per the report.
Giangiulio also told authorities Dallas allegedly knew he was talking to investigators and allegedly offered a $5,000 bribe to Giangiulio, according to the report. When Dallas discovered Flavio was talking to authorities too, he was told not to come back to work, according to the report.
Investigators said both men worked as employees, not contractors, and should have been on the company’s payroll, according to the report.
“Not paying employees the wages they are entitled to by using 1099 forms is criminal,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele in the release. “Further, it is taking advantage of workers who need the additional protections provided by wage payroll income — and that is taking money out of their pockets down the line.”
Dallas’s wife, upon being presented with a search warrant in April 2022 at their Lower Gwynedd home by Montgomery County detectives, allegedly revealed their accountant warned them against using 1099 forms to report income, according to the report.
Read more on the incident here.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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