WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A 41-year-old roofing contractor with an extensive record of violating safety regulations faces prison time and a hefty fine for the 2022 death of an employee at a New York construction site.
Jose Lema, the founder and principal of the New York-based roofing company ALJ Home Improvement Inc., pled guilty to one count of willfully violating safety regulations of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. Lema faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Lema, also known as “Jose Lema Mizhirumbay,” has a long history of safety violations and two employee deaths on his record, OSHA and prosecutors said. From 2019 to 2023, OSHA said inspectors performed eight investigations of ALJ worksites that resulted in the issuance of 24 willful citations, 16 serious citations, and more than $2.3 million in penalties.
His sentencing is scheduled for May 22 at the U.S. District Courthouse in White Plains.
Lema’s guilty plea follows the Justice Department’s pledge in 2022 that it would closely work with the Department of Labor and its subsidiary agency OSHA to “pursue cases relating to worker safety and safe working conditions,” according to the global law firm Reed Smith.
Since then, the Justice Department has announced several prosecutions against employers whose safety violations led to fatalities, according to news releases from the agency.
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