Roofing Firm Founder Sentenced To Prison For Worker Death

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A business owner will go to jail for actions that contributed to the death of a worker.

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Jose Lema, a/k/a "Jose Lema Mizhirumbay," the founder and principal of ALJ Home Improvement, Inc., a New York roofing company, was sentenced on Wednesday to four months in prison for willfully violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, leading to the death of an employee in New Square, in February of 2022. Lema pled guilty earlier this year to one count of willfully violating OSHA regulations, resulting in the death of an employee.

"Jose Lema endangered the safety of his workers by disregarding regulations and failing to ensure his employees used fall protection systems," Williams said. "This conduct led to the death of a roof worker on a construction site. Today’s sentence should send a message to small businesses that failure to comply with safety regulations endangers workers and can lead to unnecessary and preventable tragedy, and this Office will hold you accountable."

SEE ALSO:

• Roofing Firm Founder Pleads Guilty To Federal Charges In Worker Death
• Scofflaw Rockland Roofing Contractor Faces Criminal Charge
• Scofflaw Rockland Roofing Contractor Faces New OSHA Penalty Of $687K

According to court documents, on the morning of February 8, 2022, Lema sent the worker and three other employees to install a roof on a three-story multi-family apartment building under construction in New Square. Lema, however, failed to protect his employees from fall hazards by having them work on the roof at the worksite without fall protection. After climbing a ladder to the roof, the worker fell to the ground and died from his injuries.

The employee's fatal fall was not the first time an employee of Lema and ALJ fell to their death at one of ALJ’s worksites or were exposed to fall hazards. The first death, on Feb. 27, 2019, involved an ALJ employee who slipped off the roof of a newly constructed three-story home in Kiamesha Lake. OSHA investigated and issued citations to ALJ numerous times for failing to ensure employes were using fall protection systems following the 2019 death and once after the most recent death.

When imposing Lema’s sentence, Judge Judith C. McCarthy said that the victim's death was "avoidable" and noted Lema’s repeated failures to comply with fall protection regulations after the first ALJ employee’s death after falling from a roof.

In addition to prison, 41-year-old Lema, of Nanuet, was sentenced to one year of supervised release.

Williams praised the work of OSHA; the Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General; and the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Margery Feinzig in charge of the prosecution.