Thread: City works on day-laborer wage protection

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3220483

Article Last Updated: 11/16/2005 04:22 AM


City works on day-laborer wage protection
Many of the victims are immigrants who are cheated out of their pay. A Denver proposal would make wage theft a local crime.
By Elizabeth Aguilera
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Denver has moved to the cusp of launching new legal and police protections for day laborers who often are cheated out of their wages.

Cheered on by labor advocates, Councilman Doug Linkhart is proposing that wage theft be made a local crime.

Day laborers work at the poorest end of the employment spectrum, performing all sorts of manual labor from construction to landscaping. They move frequently and often are homeless. Many are immigrants, some undocumented.

And, local leaders say, day laborers are easy to victimize.

"I don't like the fact that there are businesses out there that over and over again hire people and intentionally don't pay them," Linkhart said.

Wage theft over $500 is illegal under Colorado law, but the statute leaves most day laborers, who most often are owed less than $500, out of the loop.

In Denver, the wage-theft campaign has been led by labor advocates who try to help cheated workers recover lost wages, most of the time with little success. They have been meeting with police and city officials to find a way to deal with the issue.

If the plan is approved, Denver will become the third U.S. city to create a system that includes law enforcement, government and advocates to protect day laborers' rights. Austin, Texas, was the first in 2002, followed by Kansas City.

El Centro Humanitario para Los Trabajadores, a nonprofit day labor and immigrant center in Denver, has been inundated with complaints about wage theft in recent years.

Since 2002, the agency has helped recover $30,000 in wages for workers. Still, more than than 50 workers await $60,000 that hasn't been recovered.

Some duped laborers never step forward because they have no practical legal recourse, said Minsun Ji, executive director of El Centro.

Johnny Martinez, 25, is waiting to be paid $240 after working three days at a construction site. The employers picked him up each morning at Stout Street and Park Avenue West to dig trenches, paint and pick up trash. He was told he would be paid at the end of the week. But on the fourth day, they didn't show up.

"There are people who feel they can treat people however they want," Martinez said.

The Denver proposal would make any amount of wage theft a crime and provide protections for all workers, regardless of citizenship, Linkhart said. "This law would protect all people."

Linkhart will present the proposal to the Economic Development Committee today. If approved, it goes to the City Council for consideration.

Advocates estimate that more than half of the nation's day laborers have been victims of wage theft.

Police involvement will go further to protect workers and recover wages, Ji said. "When we send out a letter requesting payment, they often don't care. But when we send a second letter that says you must pay or you'll be prosecuted, that will make a difference."

Since a similar program began three years ago in Austin, 13 employers have been arrested, and more than $100,000 has been recovered for laborers, according to the Central Texas Immigrant Workers Rights Center.

The system is slow but it is working, said Julien Ross, director of the Austin center. An important component is that a worker's citizenship not be questioned, Ross said.

"A day laborer is someone who does temporary work, and it has nothing to do with immigration status," he said. "Once work is performed, it doesn't matter who performs that work, they have to be compensated."

In Denver, a database is being created to track wage-theft cases statewide. The database, funded with a city grant, will catalog the number of victims and pinpoint repeat offenders. It should be running in a couple of months.

Larry Lanaro will likely be an entry in the database.

Lanaro dug trenches for a man who promised to pay $10 an hour. But when the week was up, neither Lanaro nor any of the other workers were paid.

"He began putting us off, he said he'd pay later and later and then he disappeared with his equipment," said Lanaro, 47. "I just brushed it off. I figured there was nothing I could do."

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3224925

Wage-theft law clears committee
The city proposal would make cheating day laborers out of their pay a prosecutable offense. The full City Council will consider it in two weeks.
By Elizabeth Aguilera
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Day laborers cheated out of wages will be able to call the police if a proposal that sailed through a City Council committee Wednesday gets the same stamp of approval by the entire council in two weeks.

City Councilman Doug Linkhart's proposed ordinance would add wage theft to a list of prosecutable thefts and give day laborers recourse when they are cheated.

"We are hoping a notice from police to the employer would take care of most of the cases," Linkhart told the committee, made up of council members. "We are hoping not to get to the point of going to court or having anyone prosecuted."

The proposal will go to the mayor/council meeting Monday and to the full council Nov. 28. Linkhart is confident he'll get council support. Eight council members heard the proposal Wednesday.

Councilwoman Judy Montero, who is not on the committee, was there in support.

"I support basic worker rights," she said. "If they work the hours, they should get paid."

The ordinance would protect all workers, but it is day laborers who most often get ripped off and feel they have no legal remedy, advocates say.

Criticism is coming from illegal-immigrant opponents, but advocates of the proposal and Linkhart say this ordinance is not about citizenship status. The focus is on wage theft, no matter who is ripped off, Linkhart said.

For the Worker's Rights Task Force, the approval in committee was a giant first step.

"It's going to be a huge change for the workers," said Minsun Ji, executive director of El Centro Humanitario para Los Trabajadores, a nonprofit day laborer center. "Working with the Police Department is going to make a difference."

Johnny Martinez, 25, is waiting to be paid $240 after working three days at a construction site. The employers picked him up each morning at Stout Street and Park Avenue West to dig trenches, paint and pick up trash. He was told he would be paid at the end of the week. But on the fourth day, they didn't show up.

I agree. The illegal should get paid and then deported. In this case, it is the employer who has committed a bigger crime. After all, he's not suppose to even hire the illegal. On top of that, he stole from money from the illegal. To hell with Denver's current cap of $500. People, no matter what or who they are are not suppose to work for free. This is why WE MUST ARREST EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE ILLEGALS

I say let it be a lesson to 'UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS'. NO LEGAL PAPERS, NO LEGAL JOB! THEREFORE- NO LEGAL SALARY! PERIOD.

So illegals working for unscrupulous employers will now be covered under a law that will make sure they get paid.

Now not only will illegals work under the table paying NO taxes, but this will put much more work on the police department who will have to hire more officers to enforce this new law. Is the advocacy group paying for this extra expense I wonder or is this being added to taxpayer burden? The Denver taxpayers must be more PC than I am.

I don't recall reading in either article that these employers would be turned over to ICE for prosecution

No--what they SHOULD do is print up little booklets that Vicente can hand out when he hands out the other that tells them HOW to GET HERE. Our government could print a companion booklet telling them to beware because employers have a habit of not paying illegals. If they thought they were going to work for NOTHING, I bet they would stay at home

Originally Posted by Bootsie

No--what they SHOULD do is print up little booklets that Vicente can hand out when he hands out the other that tells them HOW to GET HERE. Our government could print a companion booklet telling them to beware because employers have a habit of not paying illegals. If they thought they were going to work for NOTHING, I bet they would stay at home

Good idea Bootsie! But, there are too many illegals that are being told about all the free benefits our government hands out, so that wont stop them from coming.

Hey as far as I am concerned this is a great opporunity for a 2 for 1.

Catch the illegal, then arrest the employer for a) hiring an illegal alien b) theft of service.

Then no jail time just seizure of business assets. The illegal we deport. Simple.

This nonsense is why I won't live in CO. anymore. cheers glenn

Good point, BBean. I guess the benefits outweigh the drawbacks so they figure they can come, live off of US and NOT work.

And, good idea, glen. Get them all in one fell swoop.

Don't you wonder sometimes why our GOVERNMENT can't seem to come up with any PLANS when we think of new ones every day???!!!

Originally Posted by naturalglenn

Hey as far as I am concerned this is a great opporunity for a 2 for 1.
Catch the illegal, then arrest the employer for a) hiring an illegal alien b) theft of service.
Then no jail time just seizure of business assets. The illegal we deport. Simple.
This nonsense is why I won't live in CO. anymore. cheers glenn

GET OUT OF TOWN! Naturalglenn, you make too much sense. And Bootsie, our government is HIP-HIP-HORRAYING themselves for their involvement in locating 125 illegal immigrants working at Wal-Mart.