Thread: Immigrant workers sue janitorial company

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bus ... 73730.html

June 15, 2006, 4:55PM

Immigrant workers sue janitorial company
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

About 100 immigrant janitors marched through downtown Houston today to protest a local cleaning company accused of withholding paychecks from its employees and not paying them overtime or for all hours they worked.

The march took place after a federal lawsuit was filed against Houston-based Professional Janitorial Service. The rally ended at one of the downtown buildings the company cleans.

The lawsuit accuses the company of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by taking a half-hour deduction from workers' pay stubs for hours they had actually worked.

"They take away 30 minutes I work every Friday. They told us they do that because those are the rules," Eleonora Parada, a Professional Janitorial Service employee who was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in Spanish.

Officials with Professional Janitorial Service did not comment Thursday on the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Parada and a former worker, Enrique Almeida, also said when employees are first hired, they do not receive their first paycheck until after 30 days. But that first paycheck only includes hours from the first two weeks of employment. Workers don't get paid for those second two weeks of work until after they leave the company.

"People that have left and tried to claim (that) check are told that it has already been given to them. But it hasn't," Parada said.

Kevin Chavez, one of the attorneys for the janitors, said the workers are being taken advantage of because of their immigration status. Many of the 500 workers for Professional Janitorial Service are illegal immigrants, he said.

"These companies are not being honest with them, saying, 'You are an immigrant. You have no rights. We can do this to you.' That is not the case," he said.

Chavez said regardless of their immigration status, workers like Parada are entitled to protection from federal labor laws.

"They have a right to minimum wage. They have a right to be paid overtime or to be paid for hours they are asked to work," he said.

Parada, 30, from Colombia, did not wish to comment on her legal status in the country, only saying, "despite our citizenship, we come here to work, for the American dream, to help our families."

Chavez said he believed the actions being taken against workers are retaliation for their efforts to organize and join the Service Employees International Union. Last November, the union got more than 4,700 janitors, who work for four of the five largest cleaning companies in Houston, to unionize. Most of these janitors who joined the union are immigrants.

"We are fighting today so that the workers of PJS can unite and we can all have a single voice," said Parada, who has worked for the company for two years. "We want a dignified salary. We want paid vacations, paid holidays and health care."

Rolando Enriquez was one of about 30 workers for the janitorial company who gathered just before the march began to praise their employers.

These workers held up signs that read, "Employees are PJS's First Class Citizens" and "PJS Respects My Rights."

"They are not taking advantage of us," said Enriquez, 23, who has worked for the company for 1 1/2 years. "PJS is a company that ultimately treats us well."

Enriquez faulted the union for being too aggressive in trying to organize workers.

A hearing in the lawsuit was scheduled for Sept. 1.

Nothing like putting the cart before the horse.....here are people who are demanding benefits and they don't even have valid green cards. This should be a good reason for ICE to show up.

LOL, this is actually a good thing !!!! Maybe illegals will file a lawsuit against Walmart or Home Deport, among thousands of other leech companies determined to destroy the wages of American workers; those that legally pay their taxes after earning their $5.75 minimum wage pay checks.

Bring the law suits on illegal immigrants, as we are most interested in knowing the names of those companies hiring you !!!

How can someone not in this country legally file lawsuit against a company they should not have been employed by in the first place? I say fine, let them pursue their lawsuit, but when it's all said and done - deport everyone of them that can't prove citizenship. Once that's done, send the employer that hired them to prison for a couple years!

Corporate America's "cheap labor" may not turn out to be so cheap after all - at least not for one janitorial company!

"We are fighting today so that the workers of PJS can unite and we can all have a single voice," said Parada, who has worked for the company for two years. "We want a dignified salary. We want paid vacations, paid holidays and health care."

You want benefits? Then go back to mexico and wait in the long line to come here legally. Who the hell do they think they are?...not all legal citizens get benefits.

So regardless of immigration status they deserve more more more???? Think about it people. I am so sick of people who are ILLEGAL demanding things. As a country we are looking more and more foolish everyday. Where is someone we can look up to in government? Hard to find heroes anymore as it is and that is largely because our so-called leaders are WHIMPS. If someone out there has the courage to stand up to all of this insanity they could actually become a heroe, imagine that. Anyone up to the challenge?

Jean- there are a few. Tom Tancredo is my man but there are a few more.

I have to wonder how the payroll taxes are being handled by this company will so many illegals? Either the illegals are using false ss #'s or the employer is not making payroll taxes on them.
Companys like this are the driving force behind the invasion and should be held severely accountable.