Agency aids exploited workers..IGNORES ILLEGAL STATUS
Legal rights for illegal workers
If employers exploit them, immigrants can turn to task force
09:28 PM CST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005
By DIANNE SOLÃ?S / The Dallas Morning News
For more than a year, Socorro Hernández cared for an ailing Richardson woman, feeding, bathing and dressing her for about $6 an hour. Now the illegal immigrant from Mexico is in a pay dispute over $1,800 that she says the woman's family owes her.
Ms. Hernández has turned to the Mexican Consulate, part of a team of government agencies and immigrants' rights advocates that protect illegal immigrants from wage violations, discrimination and unsafe conditions.
While it seeks to enforce labor laws, the Justice and Equality in the Workplace task force looks the other way on immigration laws. Even workers who are in this country illegally have legal rights.
"A lot of people assume because people are undocumented they are not entitled to the minimum wage," said Nora Hernández of Dallas' Catholic Charities, which takes a leading role in the task force.
But the nation's underground workforce of between 6 million and 7 million illegal immigrants is entitled to the same federal minimum wage and overtime protections as native-born workers.
Thus, as President Bush lobbies to overhaul the nation's immigration system, the task force deals with the practical realities of how to lessen their exploitation in the workplace.
Located in a half-dozen U.S. cities, each task force is typically composed of groups such as Catholic Charities and the Mexican Consulate, as well as federal labor agencies and local police authorities.
Immigration authorities are deliberately excluded because these workers can be deported if they broke U.S. immigration laws to get here. And employers can be fined for knowingly hiring them.
"We aren't concerned whether they are documented or undocumented," said John Miles, regional administrator in Dallas for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "We are just concerned that they are safe."
Employers sometimes think of illegal immigrant workers "as disposable, and that enrages me," said Nora Hernández, who is unrelated to Socorro Hernández. "They think there will always be more."
Began in Houston
The original task force was formed in 2001 in Houston, where it's recouped $1.5 million in wages for about 2,000 immigrant workers, said Benito Juárez, who runs that city's office of immigrant and refugee affairs.
The concept then spread to Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia. Typically the task forces are loosely financed by their participants and have no full-time staffs.
The Dallas task force was formed in June 2003 and so far has handled hundreds of cases.
Its front line is represented by Catholic Charities' immigration services unit and the Mexican Consulate. Both are places where illegal immigrants can feel unthreatened by authorities.
Employers also might be more comfortable dealing with Nora Hernández than with a federal labor investigator.
"Often times, they are far more willing to deal with me," she said. "They don't get reported. The workers get paid, and everyone moves on."
Ms. Hernández and Alvino Guajardo, who volunteers at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, use a combination of diplomacy and muscle to keep employers in line.
Both benefit from the punchy introductory line, "We'd like to keep law enforcement out of this matter, but ...."
Lawyers no help
Many cases involve paycheck disputes for sums that might equal a lawyer's hourly wage – but for an immigrant represent the monthly rent.
"Typically, 95 percent of the cases are cases lawyers don't want to take," said Mr. Guajardo, a third-year law student employed by the attorney retained by the Mexican Consulate.
So far, Socorro Hernández's case remains unresolved. Hebe Burgos, the daughter of the elderly woman, said Ms. Hernández was paid for all the work.
But Ms. Burgos said that when she asked the immigrant for documents attesting to her legal status, the home health-care worker didn't return.
"Probably she got scared because she was illegal," Ms. Burgos said.
In another case, Mr. Guajardo won $258 in pay for a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico.
The young woman worked for two weeks for a fast-food restaurant chain, until she was fired when the employer learned her Social Security number didn't match up with government data.
An employer has the right to fire any employee, Mr. Guajardo said, but the worker must be paid any wages due.
Status 'irrelevant'
Mr. Guajardo often doesn't bother asking the workers who come to him about their immigration status. "It's irrelevant," he said.
Not quite, countered Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to restrict immigration.
"It is good that labor laws and wage and hour laws apply to illegal immigrants," he said, noting that if the laws didn't apply, such workers would be even more attractive to employers.
"But the illegal alien needs to be deported after he gets compensated," Mr. Krikorian said.
Safety particularly concerns the task force because Hispanics suffer the highest fatality rate among U.S. workers, according to OSHA. Many of the accidents occur in construction.
Ultimately the goal is to avoid cases like that of Alfonso Martinez Alvarez, a 17-year-old Mexican immigrant who died in 2002 in Alba, a small town east of Dallas, after a trench collapsed around him.
A Houston construction firm, Pate & Pate, was originally fined $238,000 for nine alleged safety violations.
Then the U.S. attorney's office filed a criminal case, and last Novemberthe company pleaded guilty to one violation of OSHA's rules, court documents show. The firm could face a fine of up to $500,000.
The contractor's attorneys didn't return phone calls to discuss the case.
"It was tragic," said Mr. Miles, the OSHA official. "All of them are tragic."
Through educating employers about their responsibilities and workers about their rights, he said, the task force hopes to prevent such accidents in the future.
Out of court
Many of the cases brought by the task force are resolved through mediation.
"We aren't official [legal] counsel," said Eduardo Rea Falcón, deputy consul in charge of legal affairs at the Mexican Consulate. "But we are here to only ask that the laws are enforced."
And when employers balk, Mr. Guajardo and Mr. Rea said, there's always the small claims court in Dallas County for disputes under $5,000. Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda isn't part of the task force, but he displays a similar attitude. "I don't ask people if they are a U.S. citizen," he said. "That is not our job. Our job is to see if they should get justice."
And Judge Sepulveda adds that he's particularly annoyed with employers who have threatened immigrant workers with deportation after they've filed small-claims complaints.
Mr. Miles of OSHA credited the task force with bringing in witnesses to buttress legal cases.
"The Mexican worker doesn't trust government people," he said. "Even when there is a fatality, they don't always tell us about it."
LABOR LAWS
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT: Requires that all employees, regardless of immigration status, are paid the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour and receive overtime.
TITLE VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964: Prohibits employment discrimination, regardless of immigration status, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in hiring, employment and termination.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT: Requires safe and healthful working conditions for all workers, regardless of immigration status, by authorizing certain standards. Among them, for example, are trench rules at construction sites.
IMMIGRATION LAWS
•It is illegal for an employer to knowingly hire a worker without employment authorization.
•Congress passed the first immigration restriction law in 1862 and targeted Chinese immigrants. It was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In 1924 the first permanent limitation of immigration was passed, establishing the "national origins quota system." It governed U.S. immigration policy until 1952.
Agency aids exploited workers..IGNORES ILLEGAL STATUS
Legal rights for illegal workers
If employers exploit them, immigrants can turn to task force
09:28 PM CST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005
By DIANNE SOLÃ?S / The Dallas Morning News
For more than a year, Socorro Hernández cared for an ailing Richardson woman, feeding, bathing and dressing her for about $6 an hour. Now the illegal immigrant from Mexico is in a pay dispute over $1,800 that she says the woman's family owes her.
Ms. Hernández has turned to the Mexican Consulate, part of a team of government agencies and immigrants' rights advocates that protect illegal immigrants from wage violations, discrimination and unsafe conditions.
While it seeks to enforce labor laws, the Justice and Equality in the Workplace task force looks the other way on immigration laws. Even workers who are in this country illegally have legal rights.
"A lot of people assume because people are undocumented they are not entitled to the minimum wage," said Nora Hernández of Dallas' Catholic Charities, which takes a leading role in the task force.
But the nation's underground workforce of between 6 million and 7 million illegal immigrants is entitled to the same federal minimum wage and overtime protections as native-born workers.
Thus, as President Bush lobbies to overhaul the nation's immigration system, the task force deals with the practical realities of how to lessen their exploitation in the workplace.
Located in a half-dozen U.S. cities, each task force is typically composed of groups such as Catholic Charities and the Mexican Consulate, as well as federal labor agencies and local police authorities.
Immigration authorities are deliberately excluded because these workers can be deported if they broke U.S. immigration laws to get here. And employers can be fined for knowingly hiring them.
"We aren't concerned whether they are documented or undocumented," said John Miles, regional administrator in Dallas for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "We are just concerned that they are safe."
Employers sometimes think of illegal immigrant workers "as disposable, and that enrages me," said Nora Hernández, who is unrelated to Socorro Hernández. "They think there will always be more."
Began in Houston
The original task force was formed in 2001 in Houston, where it's recouped $1.5 million in wages for about 2,000 immigrant workers, said Benito Juárez, who runs that city's office of immigrant and refugee affairs.
The concept then spread to Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia. Typically the task forces are loosely financed by their participants and have no full-time staffs.
The Dallas task force was formed in June 2003 and so far has handled hundreds of cases.
Its front line is represented by Catholic Charities' immigration services unit and the Mexican Consulate. Both are places where illegal immigrants can feel unthreatened by authorities.
Employers also might be more comfortable dealing with Nora Hernández than with a federal labor investigator.
"Often times, they are far more willing to deal with me," she said. "They don't get reported. The workers get paid, and everyone moves on."
Ms. Hernández and Alvino Guajardo, who volunteers at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, use a combination of diplomacy and muscle to keep employers in line.
Both benefit from the punchy introductory line, "We'd like to keep law enforcement out of this matter, but ...."
Lawyers no help
Many cases involve paycheck disputes for sums that might equal a lawyer's hourly wage – but for an immigrant represent the monthly rent.
"Typically, 95 percent of the cases are cases lawyers don't want to take," said Mr. Guajardo, a third-year law student employed by the attorney retained by the Mexican Consulate.
So far, Socorro Hernández's case remains unresolved. Hebe Burgos, the daughter of the elderly woman, said Ms. Hernández was paid for all the work.
But Ms. Burgos said that when she asked the immigrant for documents attesting to her legal status, the home health-care worker didn't return.
"Probably she got scared because she was illegal," Ms. Burgos said.
In another case, Mr. Guajardo won $258 in pay for a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico.
The young woman worked for two weeks for a fast-food restaurant chain, until she was fired when the employer learned her Social Security number didn't match up with government data.
An employer has the right to fire any employee, Mr. Guajardo said, but the worker must be paid any wages due.
Status 'irrelevant'
Mr. Guajardo often doesn't bother asking the workers who come to him about their immigration status. "It's irrelevant," he said.
Not quite, countered Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to restrict immigration.
"It is good that labor laws and wage and hour laws apply to illegal immigrants," he said, noting that if the laws didn't apply, such workers would be even more attractive to employers.
"But the illegal alien needs to be deported after he gets compensated," Mr. Krikorian said.
Safety particularly concerns the task force because Hispanics suffer the highest fatality rate among U.S. workers, according to OSHA. Many of the accidents occur in construction.
Ultimately the goal is to avoid cases like that of Alfonso Martinez Alvarez, a 17-year-old Mexican immigrant who died in 2002 in Alba, a small town east of Dallas, after a trench collapsed around him.
A Houston construction firm, Pate & Pate, was originally fined $238,000 for nine alleged safety violations.
Then the U.S. attorney's office filed a criminal case, and last Novemberthe company pleaded guilty to one violation of OSHA's rules, court documents show. The firm could face a fine of up to $500,000.
The contractor's attorneys didn't return phone calls to discuss the case.
"It was tragic," said Mr. Miles, the OSHA official. "All of them are tragic."
Through educating employers about their responsibilities and workers about their rights, he said, the task force hopes to prevent such accidents in the future.
Out of court
Many of the cases brought by the task force are resolved through mediation.
"We aren't official [legal] counsel," said Eduardo Rea Falcón, deputy consul in charge of legal affairs at the Mexican Consulate. "But we are here to only ask that the laws are enforced."
And when employers balk, Mr. Guajardo and Mr. Rea said, there's always the small claims court in Dallas County for disputes under $5,000. Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda isn't part of the task force, but he displays a similar attitude. "I don't ask people if they are a U.S. citizen," he said. "That is not our job. Our job is to see if they should get justice."
And Judge Sepulveda adds that he's particularly annoyed with employers who have threatened immigrant workers with deportation after they've filed small-claims complaints.
Mr. Miles of OSHA credited the task force with bringing in witnesses to buttress legal cases.
"The Mexican worker doesn't trust government people," he said. "Even when there is a fatality, they don't always tell us about it."
LABOR LAWS
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT: Requires that all employees, regardless of immigration status, are paid the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour and receive overtime.
TITLE VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964: Prohibits employment discrimination, regardless of immigration status, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in hiring, employment and termination.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT: Requires safe and healthful working conditions for all workers, regardless of immigration status, by authorizing certain standards. Among them, for example, are trench rules at construction sites.
IMMIGRATION LAWS
•It is illegal for an employer to knowingly hire a worker without employment authorization.
•Congress passed the first immigration restriction law in 1862 and targeted Chinese immigrants. It was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In 1924 the first permanent limitation of immigration was passed, establishing the "national origins quota system." It governed U.S. immigration policy until 1952.
