Jesus Perez was promised $20 an hour to pour concrete for a residential construction company.
But he said he has received nothing for the 160 hours he worked over a three-week period in September and October.
So recently, with the weather bad and construction jobs hard to find, Perez and two co-workers met with volunteers with the Kansas City Worker Justice Project, one of a growing number of nonprofit groups seeking to collect unpaid wages for immigrant workers.
Social service agencies report a rampant problem of wage theft in industries that employ large numbers of Hispanics. They say many undocumented Hispanics don't protest when they aren't paid because they fear deportation.
Further complicating the problem, experts say the federal government is spending less money enforcing wage and hour laws, leaving the burden to states and nonprofits, like the Kansas City Worker Justice Project.
http://www.truth-out.org/article/kansas-city-project-aims-help-hispanics-collect-unpaid-wages
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