Illegal laundry workers seek unpaid wages

6:16 PM
By Nicole Baldocchi

Gilroy
More than a dozen industrial laundry employees, many of whom are undocumented, have been left wringing their hands and squeezing money from their pocketbooks after not being able to cash their last three paychecks.

Employees at West Coast Linen, a laundering service at 8190 Murray Ave., have not been paid for their last five weeks of work, employees said. Employees also allege that the company is pressuring them to keep quiet by threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which captures and deports illegal aliens. When contacted, a top employee at the Gilroy branch acknowledged that people were not being paid and that the company was in disarray.

"They keep lying to us and telling us to keep working and that there will be money in the bank in a couple of days," said a middle-aged female employee who asked not to have her name printed for fear of retaliation.

West Coast Linens' parent company, Sausalito-based Lohrey Enterprises Inc., filed for bankruptcy Oct. 17, according to records from the United States Bankruptcy Court.

A man at West Coast Linen, who answered the phone when The Dispatch asked to speak to a manager but refused to state his position or name, said "there's a lot more than two (who aren't getting paid) and right now I can't comment. ... There are a lot of things going on in court right now." He also said there is no manager right now at the local company.

Another female employee, who also asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, spoke to her manager about the troubles only to have him say that there is no secretary to deliver to checks and that he told everyone "not to deposit the checks because there was no money," she said.

At a later date, she was told by her supervisor that there is nothing any of the employees could do "if they're undocumented workers" and managers could call immigration on them, she said.

She added that nearly everyone employed at West Coast Linen is undocumented.

Jose Chapa, a community worker with Gilroy's California Rural Legal Assistance who is helping the workers, said he went to the labor commissioner Friday and was told no more complaints about West Coast Linen are being accepted because they have already filed for bankruptcy.

For workers to obtain their past wages, they need to acquire the bankruptcy documents and check if their names are listed, Chapa said. If they are, the employees can file a claim in federal court. If not, the labor commission would need to be involved.

Chapa is going to San Jose today to obtain those papers, he said.

"I'll do everything I can. If I can help them, I will not get them in trouble," said Chapa.

West Coast Linen employees plan to meet with Chapa today to discuss options, Chapa said.

The crisis is spilling out to other businesses besides West Coast Linen. Juan Godinez owns Los Cuates Grocery Store in Hollister where a few employees of West Coast Linen cashed their paychecks. Both the paychecks he cashed ended up bouncing and charging him a fee, he said. He now refuses to cash paychecks from any person bringing him a paycheck from the laundering company.

Employees are now on edge because they have been told not to come into work.

"Since (Thursday), we were sent home and we were told they would call us when the water was back on," said another employee wishing to remain anonymous. She added that up until then everyone was still working.

Workers, who were apprehensive about going to authorities because they are in the country illegally, will not be deported because they filed a suit, a representative at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse said. The distinction between documented and undocumented people does not come up when court cases are considered.

Nonetheless, frustration has driven workers to the edge and fears of deportation have drifted to the back of their mind.

"I'm almost willing to be deported," said one employee, who has a wife and children and who received an eviction notice because he is behind on rent. "What the heck am I doing here? I'd rather be suffering in my own town," he said.

Paying employees is not West Coast Linen's only problem. The company owes the city $2.22 million dollars for overusing Gilroy's water and sewer systems throughout the years.

Getting this money - at a time when fee revenues are already down due to the practical stand-still in development - depends on revamping Gilroy's 23-year-old sewer and water ordinances. The overuse penalties in those documents are unclear, and last September the council directed staff to tweak some elements of the ordinances that determine how much an incoming commercial or industrial user should pay The council will vote on the new ordinances in the near future.

Due to the city's ongoing consideration of the matter, it is unclear how much, if anything, West Coast Linen will have to pay the city.




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Nicole Baldocchi
Nicole Baldocchi is the assistant online editor at the Gilroy Dispatch. Contact her at (40 847-7139 or send her an email.
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