PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A judge in King County Washington ruled that the owner of a labor law poster company violated a consumer protection law “nearly 600,000 times,” Washington Attorney General, and gubernatorial candidate, Bob Ferguson announced Friday.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Labor Law Poster Service — a Michigan-based company — sent scam letters in the mail to small businesses to trick the business owners into buying workplace posters they didn’t legally need to purchase.
Officials said the letters imitated legitimate government communications.
King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan granted Ferguson’s request for summary judgement against one of the owners and decided the merits of the case without a trial.
Judge Widlan found the mailers were deceptive and violated the Consumer Protection Act, adding that the owner violated the law 594,788 times.
The case is still pending against the company’s co-owners and penalties will be decided later.
“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.”
The state’s lawsuit seeks full restitution, plus interest, to Washingtonians who were harmed along with civil penalties for every deceptive letter that was sent.
According to the lawsuit, Labor Law Poster Service and its owners violated the Consumer Protection Act over the course of eight years. The suit also claimed that the company violated a 2016 permanent injunction and a 2008 resolution with the Attorney General’s Office that banned the company from sending the deceptive mailers.
The Attorney General’s Office explained that businesses with employees are required to display posters about workers’ rights, such as workplace safety requirements or the right to disability leave. Officials said these posters can be downloaded for free from regulators or state agencies such as the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, Washington Employment Security Department, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Ferguson argued that Labor Law Poster Service’s business model is to “exploit” those poster requirements for profit by sending the deceptive letters that look like bills from a government agency.
The company also used envelopes with threatening language about legal consequences if the businesses did not buy their products, which were labeled as a “Complete State & Federal Posting Requirement Set” for $79.50 or more, Ferguson said.
The attorney general argued that these tactics led the business owners to believe that buying or displaying Labor Law Poster Service’s products was legally required.
The Attorney General’s Office also highlighted previous law violations from Labor Law Poster Service — including in 2008 when the office investigated similar consumer protection violations against the company, that was then known as Mandatory Poster Agency.
The company entered a legal agreement to refund Washington businesses and to stop the conduct; however, Mandatory Poster Agency continued sending mailers to about 80,000 Washington businesses between 2012 and 2013. According to a 2014 lawsuit, more than 2,900 small businesses paid $125 to prepare documents that looked like they came from the government.
A King County judge in that case ruled the company violated the Consumer Protection Act over 79,000 times and ordered restitution of $1.15 million.
The Attorney General’s office said the owners continued the practice under their new name, Labor Law Poster Service, and violated the 2016 court order and the earlier resolution.
Ferguson’s latest lawsuit claimed Labor Law Poster Service mailed at least 594,788 deceptive letters to small businesses between 2016 and 2024. The lawsuit also alleges the company made nearly 5,000 sales to Washington businesses since 2016 – totaling at least $558,052.
The company renewed its Washington business registration in October 2023, and continued sending the mailers to businesses that previously purchased their posters until they were ordered to stop in April of 2024, the Attorney General’s Office said.
Several other states have filed lawsuits against Labor Law Poster Service for similar actions. Officials said the Tennessee attorney general’s lawsuit against the company is pending, and Arizona won a $626,000 judgement against the company when it was operated as Mandatory Poster Agency.
NewsNation affiliate KOIN reached out to Labor Law Poster Service. This story will be updated if we receive a response.