Other LanguagesMichigan defendants targeted Washington businesses
SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge agreed with Attorney General Bob Ferguson and ruled that the Michigan-based owner of Labor Law Poster Service broke the law nearly 600,000 times sending scam solicitations targeting Washington businesses.
The company has illegally targeted thousands of Washington small businesses by mass mailing deceptive solicitations to dupe business owners into purchasing workplace posters they are not obligated to buy. The letters are designed to imitate legitimate government communications.
King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan granted Ferguson’s request for summary judgment against one of the owners, deciding the merits of the case without a trial. The judge found the mailers were deceptive, in violation of the Consumer Protection Act, and that owner Joseph Fata violated the law 594,788 times. The case is still pending against the co-owners. Penalties will be decided at a later date.
Ferguson’s lawsuit seeks full restitution, plus interest, to all Washingtonians harmed by this deceptive conduct. It also seeks civil penalties for every deceptive letter sent and civil penalties for each of the violations of the previous court orders.
“Small business owners work hard to follow the law,” Ferguson said. “This judgment shows the incredible scale of this scam operation. We will be asking the court to order them to return every penny to the thousands of Washington businesses they harmed, plus significant penalties. We will not stop fighting to protect Washington business owners from harmful scammers.”
Ferguson previously won a court order barring the company from sending mailers to Washington businesses while the case continued.
According to Ferguson’s lawsuit, Labor Law Poster Service and its owners — brothers Joseph Fata, Thomas Fata and Steven Fata, and later Joseph’s son, Justin Fata — violated the state Consumer Protection Act hundreds of thousands of times over the course of at least eight years. It also asserts their conduct violated a 2016 permanent injunction and a 2008 resolution with the Attorney General’s Office, both of which prohibited the company from sending deceptive mailers.
For years, the Fatas have treated all adverse legal actions as the cost of doing business, even after paying more than $1.2 million in civil penalties, restitution and attorneys’ fees from just one judgment.
Assistant Attorneys General Zorba Leslie Kelsey Burazin and Michael Bradley, Investigator Scott Henderson, Paralegal Mary Barber and Legal Assistant Ashley Totten are handling the case for Washington.
Ferguson’s lawsuit is part of the Small Business Protection Initiative, which has won tens of millions of dollars for Washington businesses that have been targeted by scams.
If you suspect you have been targeted by this or other scams, please contact the Attorney General’s Office. You can file a complaint online at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint or call the office toll-free at 1-800-551-4636.
Background on workplace requirements and posters scheme
Businesses with employees are legally required to display certain workplace posters about a variety of workers’ rights and entitlements, such as workplace safety requirements or the right to access disability leave.
Employers can download digital copies of these posters for free from many regulators and state agencies, such as the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, Washington Employment Security Department and the U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace posters are not required for businesses with no employees.
Labor Law Poster Service’s business model is to exploit these requirements — and business owners’ desire to comply with the law — for profit. They send deceptive letters that look like bills or invoices from a government agency. They mail the letters in envelopes with threatening language about legal consequences for not immediately purchasing the advertised product — a “Complete State & Federal Posting Requirement Set” — at a cost of $79.50 or more. These solicitations target small business owners, often newly registered small businesses, who may lack time and resources to thoroughly vet the legitimacy of the letters.
Together, these deceptive tactics leave business owners with the impression that buying and displaying Labor Law Poster Service’s product is required by law and they ultimately pay the fee to avoid any risk of legal ramifications.
Details of prior violations by Labor Law Poster Service owners
In 2008, the Attorney General’s Office investigated similar consumer protection violations by Labor Law Poster Service, formerly known as Mandatory Poster Agency. Mandatory Poster Agency, which was also run by the Fata brothers, entered into a legally enforceable agreement that it would provide full refunds to Washington businesses and stop any future unlawful conduct to avoid a penalty.
Mandatory Poster Agency did not stop. Between 2012 and 2013, the company sent envelopes marked “Important: Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” to roughly 80,000 Washington businesses. In a 2014 lawsuit, Ferguson asserted that more than 2,900 small businesses paid $125 each to prepare documents that looked like they came from the government. In March 2016, a King County judge ruled that Mandatory Poster Agency violated the Consumer Protection Act 79,354 times and ordered civil penalties and restitution of $1.15 million. The judgment included $793,540 in civil penalties and up to $362,625 in restitution for businesses harmed by the deceptive scheme. The company also paid the Attorney General’s Office $377,164 for attorneys’ fees.
In all, Mandatory Poster Agency and the Fata brothers paid more than $1.2 million as a result of that judgment.
Lawsuit asserts Fatas’ violations continue under new name
Once more, the Fatas did not stop their illegal activity. Under a new name, Labor Law Poster Service, they violated both the 2016 court order and the earlier resolution by engaging in the same deceptive practices.
Ferguson’s latest lawsuit asserts that Labor Law Poster Service mailed at least 594,788 deceptive letters to small businesses between 2016 and 2024, including 60,000 to 70,000 new solicitations each year. The lawsuit alleges the company made at least 4,955 sales to Washington businesses since 2016, totaling at least $558,052 in sales.
Labor Law Poster Service renewed its Washington business registration in October 2023, and continued mailing illegal solicitations to businesses who previously purchased their posters until ordered to stop by the court in April 2024.
Other enforcement actions against Labor Law Poster Service
Other states have filed lawsuits against Labor Law Poster Service for engaging in similar deceptive conduct across the country.
A lawsuit brought by the Tennessee attorney general is pending, and in 2017 Arizona won a $626,000 judgment against the company when it operated as Mandatory Poster Agency. In 2016, Labor Law Poster Service agreed to pay nearly $400,000 in penalties after violating a cease and desist order with the Delaware attorney general. In 2013, the Fata brothers, then operating as Mandatory Poster Agency, entered into a consent judgment with the State of Wisconsin after sending more than 72,000 deceptive mailers that required them to pay $340,000 in restitution and civil forfeitures.
Combined, these recycled deceptive tactics can amount to millions of dollars in profit for these repeat offenders.
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