Criminal Contractor Still Bidding Jobs- Same Story Different Day

Arnold Apodaca

As the scourge of wage fraud continues to plague the construction industry, it is essential to police effectively and punish those who break the law. When judgments are reached and crooked contractors are found guilty, there must be assurances that they will never re-offend. However, often, we see the same players appear again even after running afoul of the law.

One of the biggest judgments in history happened this year against prolific scofflaw Apodoca Wall Systems, and months later, the company is back out there bidding jobs as if nothing happened. How can a contractor with a rap sheet like Apodaca still land jobs in this industry?

This isn’t a gray-area case. This is a company with a federal judgment against them for $7.45 million. This should have sent shockwaves through every general contractor, public agency, and developer in the industry.

The Judgement

The case was widely reported on

In January of this year, the U.S. District Court in Arizona issued a consent judgment against Apodaca Wall Systems and Empire Wall Systems, both owned and operated by Arnold Apodaca and his children. The penalty:

• $3.725 million in back wages

• $3.725 million in liquidated damages

• $125,000 civil penalty

• 1,400+ workers impacted

The Department of Labor found that these companies used a deliberate mix of piece-rate work, cash pay, off-the-books brokers, and straight-time-only paychecks to avoid paying workers what they were legally owed, especially overtime. Workers who routinely worked more than 40 hours a week were denied overtime pay, victimized by shadowy payment schemes, and left without any protections.

Marc Pilotin, the DOL’s Western Regional Solicitor, put it plainly at the time, “these companies purposely cheated workers and hurt their communities. Piece-rate workers are entitled to premium pay for overtime hours, and this judgment makes that clear.”

Business as Usual—Despite a Federal Case

Despite the size of the judgment, Apodaca continues to bid contracts. “This wasn’t a mistake. This was a strategy. This really shows how much these companies make ripping people off. The fact that they can brush it off and continue is mind blowing. This company does not know how to operate on the straight and narrow.” Says Christian Sanchez a representative of the Arizona Carpenters Union.

The truth is there’s no real barrier stopping known violators from coming right back into the system. There is no centralized enforcement database to refer to, no mandatory license revocation, and there will always be general contractors who turn a blind eye because companies like Apodaca’s low bids cut their costs.

“It’s a slap in the face to every contractor who plays by the rules, to every taxpayer who assumes their dollars are going toward legitimate labor, and most of all to the workers who got robbed. And now they get to watch those same bad actors get rewarded,” says Sanchez.

Apodaca’s business model is simple. They cheat workers, underbid jobs, and pocket the difference. Unless owners, agencies, and industry partners start drawing the line, they’ll keep doing it. Until then, companies that hire contractors like Apodoca must be considered complicit.

Complicit

This keeps happening for four key reasons. First, there's weak vetting—many general contractors and public agencies fail to thoroughly investigate a company’s history of wage violations. Second, the industry’s low-bid culture rewards unethical behavior; companies that cut corners or cheat on wages can offer artificially low bids and win contracts. Third, crooked contractors like Apodaca use a web of interconnected shell entities to obscure their work records to avoid scrutiny. And finally, there’s a glaring lack of accountability: even a $7 million plus judgment isn’t automatically disqualifying, because no concrete legislature exists to make that kind of penalty a deal-breaker.