The San Francisco City Attorney's office has filed suit against a group of companies it claims is illegally marketing fraudulent workers' rights posters to small businesses. The city says they are misleading business owners into thinking they've complied with California law, when they have not.
The suit was filed in the name of the People of the State of California, through San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu on March 8 in San Fransisco County Superior Court accusing Brady Corporation and AIO Acquisition, Inc., which does business as Personnel Concepts Inc. and Labor Law Posters Online of government impersonation fraud and alleged deceptive business practices.
In the complaint, Chiu contends the defendant companies engage in mass mail solicitation designed to look like official government communication, which they claim pressures small business owners into immediately responding to an official regulatory change and call to action. Chiu claims this obscures the true nature of the communication.
Court documents state that the mailers claim the company's posters are officially registered with the Library of Congress. They allegedly falsely instruct the business owner to purchase and hang their posters in their workplace to comply with state and federal regulations or potentially incur substantial fines.
Further, Personnel Concepts, a telemarketing company through which Brady Corporation and AIO allegedly work, then allegedly subject business owners to aggressive and deceptive telemarketing calls using alleged “bait-and-switch” tactics to pressure businesses with expensive subscription services after they purchase a set of basic posters. When "surprise" bills are received and a dispute ensues, they are then allegedly sent to collections.
Chiu's complaint says these practices have resulted in numerous public online complaints for their aggressive and allegedly questionable business tactics in various states, including California, ranging from unwelcome solicitation to unauthorized billing and "bait and switch".
The city attorney has asked the court to order the defedant companies to stop the allegedly illegal business practices referenced in the lawsuit; to pay restitution plus interest to companies allegedly subjected to the alleged practices; and to pay fines of $2,500-$10,000 per alleged violation. The complaint does not estimate how many individual violations the city may attempt to claim against the companies.