NewsTimes: Gov. Quinn set to sign wage theft legislation

Employers who shortchange or don't pay workers will face stiffer penalties under an Illinois bill that's set to be signed into law.

Gov. Pat Quinn is scheduled to sign it Friday.

Under the law, a repeat offense will be considered a felony, not a misdemeanor. Also, employers who violate wage theft laws will have to pay workers back with interest.

The legislation gives the Illinois Department of Labor more oversight in dealing with the 10,000-plus wage theft claims it gets annually. The agency would directly deal with claims of $3,000 or less. Those make up the majority of claims…

http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Gov-Quinn-set-to-sign-wage-theft-legislation-596716.php

 

DMIBlog: The Most Vulnerable and the Most Exploited

A report released by Seton Hall University, the first new study since the recession, paints an ever more depressing portrait of the lives of day laborers. 96 percent of the day workers in Ironbound, Newark, have been victims of wage theft—88 percent said that they had not been paid for overtime as required by state and federal laws, 77 percent reported that their employers had paid them less than originally promised, and 62 percent had experienced at least once instance where they were not paid at all. Furthermore, 80 percent had not been provided with safety equipment, 27 percent had been assaulted by their employer, and 20 percent had been injured on the job.

Day laborers are the most economically vulnerable workers, easily exploited and hesitant to seek recourse. Many are undocumented immigrants, willing to resort to the most laborious and low-paying jobs, worried about deportation, unaware of their legal rights, and in effect, impelled to put up with flagrant workplace abuses. Furthermore, with the economic recession, the demand for such workers has fallen and the room for outright exploitation has increased. Though day laborers are endowed with the same legal protections granted to all workers according to New Jersey law, the Ironbound workers have been subject to a larger rate of wage violations than what even national statistics have …

http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2010/07/the_most_vulnerable_and_the_mo.html

 

 

DMIBlog: Hooray for Albany? Legislature Acts to Boost Working People and the Economy

Griping about Albany is always in style: pundits denounce late budgets, lax ethics rules, and special interest shenanigans. And they’ve got a point. But in the end-of-session frenzy, state legislators are also taking far more positive action: raising workplace standards for some of the state’s most exploited workers, many of whom (no surprise) live and work in New York City. By lifting pay and strengthening protections for low-wage workers, the new legislation will also promote economic recovery.

The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights gets the most ink, and for good reason: once it’s signed by the governor, this landmark law will be the first in the nation to set basic labor standards for household employees like nannies, caregivers and housekeepers. As I noted in an earlier post about the measure, the bill

guarantees basic workplace protections like overtime pay, the chance to take at least a day off every week, coverage under employment discrimination laws, advance notice if a domestic employee is about to be fired, and minimal paid sick time and vacation. It would apply to 200,000 domestic workers in New York currently subject to the whims of their employers when it comes to these fundamental rights.

But a law doesn’t need to be the first in the nation to be…

http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2010/07/hooray_for_albany_legislature.html

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SSL participates in Interfaith Worker Justice wage theft action

I walked into the door at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix and was immediately dispatched by SSL Campaign Manager Dan Furmansky to an Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) action. I joined Suzi Spangenberg from Berkeley and we drove to Mesa to Waldo’s BBQ Joint, where a number of Latino workers have gone unpaid for almost two months. We arrived and were met by 30 others — members of IWJ (including the director and founder of IWJ Kim Bobo), restaurant employees, and a delegation of clergy. A small group went into the restaurant to speak with the owner while the rest of us marched our way over, singing and chanting “De Colores” and “We Shall Not Be Moved.” We stood outside the restaurant, still singing and chanting, holding signs, and providing witness. Several cars honked their horns in solidarity and waved. The delegation came out of the restaurant and told us the owner was not there, but they got him by phone. He sounded empathetic and agreed to meet with Rev. Trena Zelle of IWJ next week. The meeting is a small success and it is still unclear if he will provide the back pay owed. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be a presence, a witness and a chance to stand on the side of love against wage theft. Suzi took some great footage – check out the video!

 

http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/blog/ssl-participates-in-interfaith-worker-justice-wage-theft-action/

 

WINBlog: Anti-immigrant measures promote wage theft

Even though Arizona's controversial SB 1070 isn't scheduled to take effect until tomorrow, worker rights advocates in Arizona are already reporting a marked spike in wage theft reported by immigrant workers. As my co-workers from our national organization report on the In These Times blog, employers are telling undocumented workers in Phoenix "go ahead and try to make me pay you."
  
    Let's be clear: most workers who experience some form of wage theft are not undocumented: they're citizens or immigrants who have legal papers to work. But anti-immigrant measures like Arizona's SB 1070, and many that were considered in the Tennessee legislature this year, help create an environment where wage theft is more likely to happen to undocumented workers.
    
    That's because when workers know they can be arrested and eventually deported by local police, they're not likely to trust any government agency enough to report wage theft. Unscrupulous employers can embrace a pattern of wage theft, followed by firing employers who complain, knowing that few workers will want to speak up if deportation is the consequence. And if you're a dishonest employer, why wouldn't you hire even more workers and pay them below minimum wage if you knew there weren't going to be consequences? SB 1070 is already driving undocumented workers further underground where they can be taken advantage of even more than before.
    
    On the flip side, strong enforcement of wage and safety laws lessens the incentive that dishonest employers have to hire undocumented workers. And, it gets to the root of the problem: exploitation by some employers who want to operate in sweatshop conditions.
    
    Even though this year has had many bleak moments for those who believe in justice for all workers, there are some hopeful signs and potential new strategies out there. The Progressive States Network reports that in several states, worker rights advocates have been able to change the direction of anti-immigrant bills. They did it by …

http://winmemphis.blogspot.com/2010/07/anti-immigrant-measures-promote-wage.html

 

 

NYT: Most Ironbound Day Laborers Report Being Cheated

Nearly all day laborers who gather for work in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark have had employers who have either paid them less than promised or not paid them at all, according to a Seton Hall University report on wage theft and workplace conditions among day laborers.

In addition, despite New Jersey state laws that grant day laborers the same legal protections that apply to all workers, the vast majority of day laborers in the Ironbound say that employers have failed to provide them with safety equipment, and at least 20 percent say they have been injured on the job, said the report (pdf), which is scheduled to be released Tuesday.

“Our findings demonstrate a staggering degree of workplace violations and exploitation of day laborers by local employers in violation of federal and state law, resulting in a loss of dignity for the day laborer population and a loss of revenue to the public,” said the study’s authors, a group of professors and students at the Immigrant Workers’ Rights Clinic at the Seton Hall School of Law.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/most-ironbound-day-laborers-report-being-cheated/

 

InTheseTimes: Two And a Half Years Later, NYC Workers Win Wage-Theft Case

After an intense two-year struggle, a federal bankruptcy court approved on Tuesday a $340,000 settlement to 23 workers at Wild Edibles—New York City’s leading seafood provider.

Employees at Wild Edibles alleged that management retaliated against individuals who were demanding overtime and back pay. “There was a lot intimidation,” says Raymundo Lara Molina, a former Wild Edibles employee. "Wild Edibles filed a court case, suing us for $4.5 million, alleging this was the money they were losing because of our campaign.”

The company alleged that the workers' campaign amounted to a conspiracy to commit extortion, but all charges against workers were dismissed.

In August 2007, workers demanded overtime wages owed to them by the seafood distributor, with support from members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Brandworkers International, a nonprofit dedicated to labor rights in the food service industry, as well as many other New York-based organizations. Scores of city restaurants ended up boycotting Wild Edibles.

“We received support from a diverse array…

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5562/

 

 

HuntingtonNews: Letter to the Editor: Say no to Sodexo

What kind of company do you want cooking your meals next year? How about a company engaged in so much illegal treatment of its employees that it was forced to shut down a dining hall for a day? Right now, Northeastern is deciding whether to extend its contract with our current food service provider, Chartwells, or to award the lucrative contract to a different company. There are many issues to consider, but one company is clearly the wrong choice for our university: That company is called Sodexo.

Sodexo is not a smart choice for Northeastern. The company’s poor treatment of employees is so extreme that in April, hundreds of workers walked off the job in protest at the University of Pittsburgh and George Mason University, where the dining halls were forced to completely close down to students.

We want workers on campus to be treated fairly and we don’t want to invite a company with labor disputes so extreme that they would prevent students from being fed….

http://huntnewsnu.com/2010/07/letter-to-the-editor-say-no-to-sodexo/

 

 

Crain's Detroit:Report critical of St. John Providence Health System labor practices

Interfaith Workers Justice, a national religious organization based in Chicago, issued a report that alleges Ascension Health and its Warren-based subsidiary, St. John Providence Health System, have engaged in a variety of anti-union activities at three Michigan hospitals.

In its 34-page report, “Ascension Health: A Fall from Grace,” Interfaith lists problems workers are experiencing and a pattern of anti-union behavior among management at three of Ascension's Michigan hospitals, including 553-bed St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Madison Heights.

“Ascension Health's approach to workers is in free fall,” said Sister Monica McGloin, chair of the delegation from Interfaith Worker Justice that issued the report. “But grace provides an opportunity to make a change. Ascension needs to change its approach to workers.”..

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100716/FREE/100719910#

 

wchl1360:Day Laborer Wage Theft Growing Issue Locally

Local activists are pushing for a law that would criminalize refusal to pay promised wages to day laborers.

 

To hear UNC professor and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Human Rights Center director Judith Blau tell it, it’s legalized theft.

 

Day laborers often congregate at the intersection of Jones Ferry Rd. and Davie Rd.  in Carrboro to find work that may be their only source of income.  Their illegal status in the country means they may lack legal recourse if a crime is committed against them, as they could be deported without permission to be in America.

 

One argument voiced by opponents of such a law is that it would be difficult to prosecute across jurisdictions, such as an employer from Chatham County who hires day laborers from Carrboro only to not pay them. …

http://www.wchl1360.com/details3.html?id=15266

 

Senator Savino Discusses the Wage Theft Bill & Domestic Workers Bill of Rights on WBAI's "Building Bridges"

 

Senator Savino Discusses the Wage Theft Bill & Domestic Workers Bill of Rights on WBAI's "Building Bridges" from ana tinsly on Vimeo.

HuffPost: Tobacco Giant Philip Morris Is Hooked on Child Labor

Everyone knows smoking is a costly habit, taking a toll on your health and your wallet. What you probably didn't know is that the tobacco industry extracts a much dearer price from children laboring in the remote fields of Central Asia.

Despite some legal and political troubles in recent years, the Philip Morris empire is still squeezing handsome profits from a vast migrant labor regime in Kazakhstan. A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently shamed the company by revealing that migrant tobacco harvesters, many of them young children, are regularly subjected to abuse, wage theft, and even physical captivity. (Video below.)

Of course, labor abuse in the cultivation of tobacco is as old as the industry itself. In the colonial era, the tobacco crop gave rise to a thriving international trade in the Chesapeake, leading to environmental destruction, the displacement of indigenous communities, and political clashes. Over time, the great tobacco …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-chen/tobacco-giant-philip-morr_b_649956.html

 

 

RetailActionProject: Victory at Scoop NYC!

Retail Workers Settle Back Wage and Discrimination Suits

Workers at the high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC have won a victory that comes after a year of organizing, public demonstrations, and legal action to make the company follow wage and hour laws and respect immigrant worker rights. The confidential settlement is also a significant victory for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s Retail Action Project (RAP), an organization that is dedicated to improving wages and working conditions for retail workers.

In late 2008, 17 Scoop NYC workers joined RAP and filed complaints and launched a campaign against the company.

Scoop NYC, a high-end clothier that operates 11 stores nationwide, allegedly required stock and security workers to labor 60 or more hours per week for over six years without paying the legal overtime rate. Some workers contend they were discriminated against on the basis of their national origin because Scoop refused to accept their legal work authorization papers.

Madou Kone, a former Scoop …

http://www.retailactionproject.org/updates/detail.php?id=28

 

 

WP: Report criticizes treatment of Mexican women recruited to pick Md. crabs

Hundreds of Mexican women who travel to Maryland's Eastern Shore every summer to pick crabs are isolated and sometimes exploited by employers and recruiters, according to a report that urges changes to a U.S. guest-worker program.

The report, released Wednesday by American University and the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, reflects interviews with 43 of the 1,000 or so women who worked at 11 crab companies last year. They described being charged illegal fees by recruiters in Mexico and enduring substandard working conditions in Maryland.

The women, few of whom spoke English, said they lived in housing with backed-up sewage and no working stove, lacked transportation to buy groceries or seek medical care, were not trained for their jobs or told how their paychecks and taxes were handled, and had a hard time picking enough pounds of crabmeat to make minimum wage.

"They get no formal training, they get cuts and infections, and they are charged fees to participate," said Jayesh Rathod, an American University law professor who…

 

LaborNotes: NYC Retail Workers Win Settlement, Look to Fight for Living Wage

Working a low-wage retail job in New York City isn’t easy, but for people like Romeo Ilboudou, a stock manager at the high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC, discrimination, wage theft, and hazardous conditions made it even lousier.

“The stock people were all West African,” said Ilboudou, who worked the job for five years. “Our break room was a boiler room in the basement. This is where we had to eat our lunch, change our clothes and even sleep.”

Non-immigrant workers at Scoop NYC were not subject to such conditions, Ilboudou said, adding that he and other immigrants were also forced to work more than 20 hours per week overtime without receiving the legally required time-and-a-half pay.

“We are the ones who built this company from the bottom up, and this was not a way to say ‘thank you,’” he added.

Now, Ilboudou and his former…

 

R. Kelly Sued For Unpaid Overtime Wages

R&B singer R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was sued by a former employee for allegedly unpaid overtime, Fox Chicago reported. Anthony Navarro, was hired as a "runner" by R. Kelly's Bass Productions Ltd., claims violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law.

The two-count suit seeks compensatory damages for overtime hours he claims were unfairly compensated and the cost of his Illinois employment lawyer. He also claims other tour employees also were not adequately paid, but it's unclear whether or not they also have filed suit.

Anthony Navarro said he …

http://chicagoemploymentattorneysblog.com/2010/07/r-kelly-sued-for-unpaid-overtime-wages.html

 

 

LJWorld: Employees share wage theft stories at worker justice clinic

Low-wage and immigrant workers in Lawrence gathered to take part in a Worker's rights justice meeting. Some local workers claim they have been the victims of unfair treatment in the workplace.

But lower-wage — and particularly immigrant — workers don’t always get paid for all the work they do in our community.

It’s called “wage theft,” and several area workers who have experienced it shared their stories Saturday at the first Lawrence Worker Justice Coalition meeting at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.

Juan Miguel Turcios, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, gave one example of how businesses in Lawrence treat such workers unfairly. Turcios, who has been in the United States four years, said he was recently hurt on the job. That injury led to an infection and a $4,000 hospital visit — an expense his employer won’t pay, and one he can’t.

It’s a story that’s becoming more and more…

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/jul/11/employees-share-wage-theft-stories-worker-justice-/?business

 

WhistleblowersBlog: Workers blow whistle on Moe Hamdan's wage theft

Moe Hamdan owns the upscale Washington restaurant called The Reserve on L St. NW.  Instead of using the restaurant's income to pay the workers' wages, he used it for his own lavish lifestyle. Some workers went six months without being paid what they are owed.  "I worked really hard as a bar boy at this restaurant," says former Reserve employee Luis Ducas, "and the owner refuses to pay me my back wages." D.C. Jobs with Justice's Arturo Griffiths says Hamdan owes workers over $25,000 in unpaid wages. Hamdan "has no intentions of paying his workers or even meeting with them" a former manager told Boaz Young-El, an AFL-CIO Union Summer intern. "He is…

 

http://www.whistleblowersblog.org/2010/07/articles/corporate-1/workers-blow-whistle-on-moe-hamdans-wage-theft/

 

Rural Migrant News: Weeding out Abuses

A 13-page June 2010 report outlined abuses allegedly suffered by farm workers, including wage theft, sexual harassment, and inferior and dangerous housing for its workers. The report calls on DOL to hold especially repeat offending farm employers responsible for violations of federal labor laws that aim to protect hired workers.

The report notes that at least half of US crop workers are unauthorized, and that their unauthorized status as well as lack of English and ignorance of US labor laws makes them vulnerable to abuse. The report concluded that DOL has a "very poor" record of labor law enforcement to protect farm workers; the report says that 110 of the 21,375 investigations of Fair Labor Standards Act in FY08 were in agriculture. There were 1,500 investigations under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, and the average civil money penalty for MSPA violations between 2002 and 2008 was $342, a third of the maximum penalty.

The report says that there is a race to the bottom in agriculture, as some employers violate labor, immigration and tax laws to reduce costs and encourage others to follow suit to remain competitive. It cites the growing use of farm labor contractors, and calls for farm employers to be jointly liable for labor law violations with the FLCs who bring workers to their farms….

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1558_0_6_0

 

StevenspointJournal: Ex-county worker sues for overtime

An administrative assistant  to former Portage County Executive Mark Maslowski alleges she is owed $43,000 in unpaid overtime compensation, according to a suit filed Friday in federal court.

 

Heidi Born-Smith, of Rudolph, contends she worked 1,560 overtime hours between June 2006 and April 2010 for Maslowski, but her paycheck never reflected any compensation in addition to her annual $38,266 salary.

 

Maslowski lost his re-election bid in April to Patty Dreier.

 

According to the complaint, Born-Smith worked largely as a secretary for Maslowski. She served as a receptionist answering phone calls, maintaining files and coordinating meetings and appointments. Although the Federal Labor Standards Act and the Wisconsin Wage Payment Law exempt some employees from overtime pay requirements, none of the exemptions apply to Born-Smith.

http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20100707/SPJ0101/7070672/Ex-county-worker-sues-for-overtime

 

MiamiHerald: Miami-Dade immigrant workers get help when bosses refuse to pay

Almost every morning Alberto Pérez stands on South Florida street corners looking for work -- one of thousands of day laborers hired to pick crops, fix roofs, cut grass or clean houses.

These laborers depend on quick payments to feed themselves, pay rent or send money to families in their home countries. But often the people who hire them don't pay.

Pérez, a 26-year-old immigrant from Guatemala who four weeks ago was hired to landscape gardens at homes around South Miami-Dade, said he was promised $100 per day. Instead, he said, he got only $50 to $75 per day. After help from an activist group, he recouped some of the remaining money that was promised.

Pérez's story is not unique, but has become almost normal for day laborers, particularly those who are undocumented immigrants.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/05/1716740/miami-dade-immigrant-workers-get.html#ixzz0t0ThLZpA

 

Faith in Public Life: Combating Wage Theft

Since President Obama's election, the Department of Labor has been strengthening efforts to protect workers' rights and enforce labor laws after eight years of neglect by the previous administration.

 

As part of this renewed commitment, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis has introduced a new campaign entitled "We Can Help" to fight wage theft-- a shameful but not uncommon practice in which employers pay workers less then they're owed, force them to work overtime without appropriate compensation, or falsely classify them as independent contractors to avoid payroll taxes.

 

Along with the injustice faced by individual workers, wage theft creates systemic problems in the labor market that hurt all workers. This fosters a "race to the bottom" that punishes employers who follow the law.

 

In addition to the DOL's outreach program to help workers prevent and report wage theft, our friends at Interfaith Worker Justice have launched an online resource center at www.wagetheft.org.

 

IWJ president Kim Bobo was on The Ed Show this week and did a great job explaining the problem and what workers can do: