Immigrant Workers Sue Md. Employer

Civil Claim Alleges Pay Exploitation

For about six months last year, Pedro Clavjio and other painters and carpenters on his work crew toiled full days and sometimes nights at a Department of Justice building downtown.

But as they spruced up the building, a civil lawsuit alleges, Clavjio and his co-workers were being unlawfully exploited by their employer, Hann & Hann Inc. construction services, a Rockville-based contractor.

For work there and elsewhere, Clavjio and the other laborers, mostly immigrants earning $10 to $20 an hour, weren't paid overtime they were entitled to and in some cases weren't paid for regular work hours, according to the lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Hann & Hann also made unauthorized deductions from workers' pay, charging them for tools such as paintbrushes and uniforms that bore the company's name, the lawsuit alleges.

"We all have dignity," Clavjio, 42, a Silver Spring resident, said in an interview conducted in Spanish. "What happened to me and the other workers isn't right. We're looking for justice."

Clavjio, a legal immigrant from Peru, said he often worked 56 hours a week but was paid for 40.

Hann & Hann is owned and run by company President Terry R. Hann, of Potomac, and his brother Gary F. Hann, of Gaithersburg. The Hanns did not respond to phone calls and e-mails requesting comment.

Robert J. Smith, an attorney for the company, said Hann & Hann "strives to abide by all of the applicable laws relating to its employees.

"We're going to look into the allegations" in the lawsuit "and if there's a problem, address it," he said.

The lawsuit was filed by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and lawyers at Arnold & Porter LLC, who are providing legal services pro bono. The lawsuit alleges Hann & Hann violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Maryland state labor law.

Hann & Hann reportedly had total sales of approximately $19 million in 2007, according to the lawsuit. A "significant percentage" of the company's business came from federal government contracts, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names Clavjio and three other workers as plaintiffs. They worked for Hann & Hann for periods ranging from 11 months to, in Clavjio's case, nearly eight years. Laura E. Varela, of the Lawyers' Committee, said the company's alleged exploitative practices affected many more workers, as many as 200 in all.

The workers' attorneys will try to have a federal judge certify the lawsuit as a class action, on behalf of all affected employees, Varela said.