Attention: Current and Former Employees of Foremost Response, Inc.
I have information about Foremost Response, Inc. and their business practices that you may be very interested in. They could very well owe you money, and not just a little bit. In fact, they could owe you a great deal of money. FRI has been sued by the United States Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao, for failure to pay overtime and failure to withhold taxes for their employees—and they have lost.
NOTE: IF YOU WORK FOR OR HAVE WORKED FOR FOREMOST RESPONSE INCORPORATED AND THEY’VE TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE A SUB-CONTRACTOR RATHER THAN AN EMPLOYEE, THEY ARE LYING TO YOU AND THEY ARE IN VIOLATION OF BOTH FEDERAL LAW AND A FEDERAL COURT DECISION SPECIFIC TO FRI!!!
Here are the official, U.S. District Court, District of Colorado documents relating to the case in question:
Complaint
Civil Cover Sheet
Consent Injunction
Findings of Fact, Conclusions, and Recommendation
You have rights, as evidenced by the recent finding of U.S. Magistrate Judge Gudrun J. Rice. Unfortunately for you and I (as I too am a former employee of FRI), Judge Rice has allowed JJ Sutton (the owner of FRI) to get away with some very interesting tactics relating to this case. These tactics include, but are not limited to:
- A concerted and planned effort to limit the number of potential plaintiffs by settling out of court before the DoL had procured a complete record of employees. FRI settled for $85,000, to be paid to a small group (4-5 former employees), despite the fact that, according to my source, FRI should owe nearly $1 Million in back pay and withholdings to many more of us.
- Zero effort was made towards identifying those employees who are owed money in the exact same fashion as those who were included in the lawsuit but were not included in the language of said lawsuit. None of the three parties involved—Foremost Response Inc., U.S. Department of Labor, and Judge Rice—made any attempt whatsoever to identify those of us who were also affected by FRI’s failure to adhere to the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to our wages and hours but were not included in the DoL suit.
- Strong arm tactics employed by FRI lawyer Michael J. Grattan, III in the form of a flat out refusal to speak with any former employee about the case in question based upon his misinterpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This passage came directly from an email from Mr. Grattan to me:
“…sections 216b of the Fair Labor Standards Act which states: ‘The right provided by this subsection to bring an action by or on behalf of any employee and the right of any employee to become a party plaintiff to any such action, shall terminate upon the filing of a compliant by the Secretary of Labor in an action under section 17 in which (1) restraint is sought of any further delay in the payment of …unpaid overtime compensation.’”
But fear not! A member of the Denver office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, has informed me that I (we) still have rights, and may sue independently of the DoL. I’ve checked into the prospect of doing so on my own and it seems that such an action would be cost prohibitive. However, as a group we may be able to change this.
If you are a current or former employee of FRI and feel that you might be owed unpaid overtime and federal tax withholdings, please do not hesitate to contact me! Please leave a comment below, with GOOD CONTACT INFORMATION. Also indicate whether or not you want your name to be kept private, in which case I will not approve the comment for publication but will instead save it for my own records regarding a possible second round of litigation against FRI on behalf of those of us who were so quizzically left out of the first round.
I personally live in Mesa County, but to be sure this issue will extend to all affected Western Colorado counties, including Garfield County, El Paso County, Pitkin County, Eagle County, Gunnison County, and so on to include any and all counties where FRI operates. Because I live in Mesa County it will obviously be easiest for me to speak with those of you who live here, but rest assured that I intend to do this right, so if travel is required I will certainly do it.
If you are a lawyer with experience in the area of labor/employment law and would like to either donate, or offer your services to myself and to anyone else who might fit into the same category and is also willing to be party to such litigation against FRI, please contact me! We need your help badly. The Denver area lawyers that I have spoken with seem completely uninterested in our case.
For peace of mind, please note that I am also beginning the process of filing criminal charges against Mr. Sutton and/or anyone who might have acted on his behalf during the trial mentioned above. By deciding to leave the rest of us off the list of employees owed, they have knowingly and willfully committed perjury, obstruction, and God only knows what else. We will win the day people! It just might take longer than it did for that first group of plaintiffs. Why they failed to include the rest of us in this lawsuit is beyond me, but I intend to make the point mute.
Finally, I am looking for any credible information regarding violation of law or common decency with respect to FRI and their clients. If you have any information that would be pertinent to a news article (factual and verifiable tips only) regarding illicit or illegal business practices and/or company policies on the part of Foremost Response, it would be very much welcomed. Of particular interest would be any tips regarding the infamous condo fire in Aspen and/or any information relating to the relationship between FRI and the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in specific. Of course, information relating to hiring, training, firing, or wages would also be welcome.
Let’s make sure that Mr. Sutton, and his cohorts at FRI, do not get away with this. By failing to report us as former employees during a federal investigation or in the subsequent federal trial, they have not only willfully wronged us, but they have committed crimes that we can, and must, take action against. If justice still stands in this country, the law will be on our side.
Thank you for your time!
JMK
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