http://www.gazette.net/stories/011107/p ... 1987.shtml

O’Malley urged to punish employers who stiff workers
Announcement comes amid negotiations for Prince George’s day labor center

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007
E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

by Douglas Tallman and Judson Berger

Staff Writer

ANNAPOLIS — An immigrants’ rights group is calling on Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley (D) to expand enforcement to punish employers who deny workers their pay.

Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA of Maryland, told reporters at an Annapolis news conference Monday that wage theft has become a crisis in the state as workers are denied paychecks.

‘‘We’re here because we believe the state could be doing more,” Torres said, adding that he does not want changes in the law. ‘‘The law is very clear. It is the lack of implementation of the law.”

CASA staff attorney Jessica Salsbury said the state used to have 20 investigators in the Employment Standards Division in the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In the early 1990s, the number was diminished to six, and during the Ehrlich administration the number dropped to zero. The office now has six.

‘‘Nonprofit agencies like CASA are overwhelmed by the number of cases that come through our doors. We’re doing everything we can ... we want the government to step up,” Salsbury said.

CASA is also working with Prince George’s County officials to open the county’s first day labor center, a site that would serve as a regulated meeting place and ideally set standardized wages and provide protection from exploitation.

The county has identified a site in Langley Park at the corner of Routes 650 and 193, but has been in negotiations for months.

Prince George’s Latino Affairs Liaison Penelope Guzman said she expects a lease for the site to be signed this year.

‘‘That’s one of the big things that we really want to incorporate in this ... A big problem is that people don’t get paid,” Guzman said.

Hundreds of day laborers congregate every morning in parking lots near Hyattsville and Langley Park. Guzman said some of them are either stiffed out of payment or demanded to perform more work than they were originally asked.

Unscrupulous employers have a number of schemes they pull on their workers, Salsbury said. The employers can underpay what they owe, pay less than the minimum wage or not pay overtime. They can pay with bad checks, or they can charge illegal deductions.

Or they can misclassify employees as independent contractors to avoid paying unemployment insurance or other legal protections, she said.

Salsbury said the worst offenders are in the construction industry, cleaning companies and other low-wage industries.

E-mail Douglas Tallman at dtallman@gazette.net or Judson Berger at jberger@gazette.net.


Copyright © 2006 The Gazette - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Privacy Statement