Thread: IA Advocates sue Verizon for illegal's pay...........

Verizon to Press Contractors On Immigrant Workers' Pay

By Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 24, 2008; D04

Verizon Communications said yesterday it might withhold work from some of its contractors if it finds that immigrant laborers who dug ditches for the company's next-generation fiber-optic cables in the Washington area were not paid for their work.

The statement by Verizon came after advocates for immigrants said they would rally in front of the company's District headquarters today, calling on the company to ensure that the laborers were paid fairly for their work.

"If it is true that workers are not being paid by subcontractors . . . Verizon will take the proper course of action," Sandra Arnette, a Verizon spokeswoman, said in a statement. She added that these actions may include "withholding work from the prime contractor, suspending the prime contractor until the contractual obligations are met or firing the prime contractor."

Representatives for the three groups pressing the workers' cause -- Silver Spring-based CASA of Maryland, the District-based Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center -- said they would press ahead with their planned protests.

"Verizon has known about these problems for some time," said Tim Freilich, a lawyer with the Justice Center's Immigrant Advocacy Program. "They need to ensure payment now."

Advocacy groups have been pressing Verizon on the issue since at least 2006, a year after the company began offering FiOS, or Fiber Optic Service, in the Washington area. The service uses the fiber-optic cables to send data via pulses of light, allowing the company to offer Internet, cable television and phone services over a single line.

Verizon contracts with construction companies, or prime contractors, to do the work. Those companies often contract out the jobs to smaller companies.

Advocates representing immigrant laborers have won some judgments against subcontractors in recent years. But they have had difficulty collecting the money they were owed.

CASA, the Washington Lawyers' Committee and seven laborers who dug ditches throughout Maryland and other states filed a class-action suit last week against one of Verizon's prime contractors and several of its subcontractors. The suit alleges that the workers were not paid for all the work they did, including some overtime hours.

"Verizon FiOS cannot exist without the trenches that are dug by these workers," said Laura E. Varela, an attorney with the committee. "And Verizon has the moral responsibly to assure that these workers are paid and continue to be paid as the Verizon FiOS network is built."

View all comments that have been posted about this article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 65_pf.html

"Verizon FiOS cannot exist without the trenches that are dug by these workers," said Laura E. Varela, an attorney with the committee. "And Verizon has the moral responsibly to assure that these workers are paid and continue to be paid as the Verizon FiOS network is built."

LOL! The chickens are coming home to roost!
I hope every illegal alien sues their employers, that will stop the hiring of illegal aliens FAST. It's not cheap labor when they cost employers more money than Americans would have cost.

In addition, it's not Verizon's problem; subcontractors are independent contractors and have already been paid. They need to pay their employees. Verizon shouldn't have to pay twice for the same work done.

Government and ICE are you listening at all. Admission! Aiding and abetting!

You're spot on, Miguelina....if the employers are made to pay fair wages and benefits...then the whole incentive of hiring illegals is gone....and what wise business person is going to want the hassle of hiring non-English speaking, unskilled labor that comes along with the baggage of groups like CASA, La RAZA and others at their tails? No need to hire illegals then.....and 500,000 AMERICANS just lost their jobs in NOvember............I'm sure there are many in that group who wouldn't mind working for VERIZON on these temporary projects for the FIOS.

Legalatina, great minds think alike.

Another though occurred to me, if the illegals are paid in cash and there's no paper trail, what proof do they have that they did ANY work on these projects?

ICE, Attorney Generals, and IRS must check this out. We should demand they do so. I-9's were they on file for these undocumented and was E-verifying done?

Deport all of the illegal laborers! Remember who did that work before they arrived? Oh yeah, it was us. (American citizens and legal immigrants with valid green cards).

Ostrich

"If it is true that workers are not being paid by subcontractors . . . Verizon will take the proper course of action," Sandra Arnette, a Verizon spokeswoman, said in a statement. She added that these actions may include "withholding work from the prime contractor, suspending the prime contractor until the contractual obligations are met or firing the prime contractor."




Why not do that to the contractors who are breaking the law and hiring illegals in the first place Verizon?

Who is representing all umemployed Citizens? Not the states' Attorney Generals! My state's AG office told me that any citizen that thinks they did not get a job due to undocumented immigrants can file a case with EEOC. Isn't this a wonderful situation for us citizens in the United States?

"And Verizon has the moral responsibly to assure that these workers are paid and continue to be paid as the Verizon FiOS network is built."


Can you hear me now? Would be great to find out exactly who these contractors are, then have a talk with ICE. I love the part about moral responsibilty too, you gotta be kiddin.