Advocates Speak Up for Illegal Day Laborers Cheated of Wages

Sarahi Uribe, a paralegal for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, distributes information to day laborers in Northeast Washington on the legal rights to fair pay. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
Buy Photo

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, all workers are entitled to be paid minimum wage and overtime for work performed. The law does not discuss the issue of immigration status. Many jurisdictions, including the District and Maryland, have laws or court rulings that clearly extend wage and hour rights to immigrants, regardless of legal status. These laws are rarely enforced, however, and few cases reach court.

There is scant public sympathy for the grievances of illegal immigrants, and some law firms are reluctant to provide representation. Workers can file complaints with state offices that handle wage and hour disputes, but advocates said few workers know this or would venture into a government building to find out.

In recent interviews, many Hispanic day laborers in the District, Maryland and Virginia told stories of contractors who vanished after repeatedly promising to pay them, or paid them with checks that could not be cashed.

Several nonprofit groups recently increased efforts to help them collect. Ulises Ramirez, a manager at the Workers and Tenants Committee in Falls Church, said a Salvadoran was owed more than $8,000 by a home remodeler. After Ramirez gave a legal-sounding letter to the owner of the remodeling business, he agreed to a gradual payment plan.

In the District, several organizers visited a parking lot outside a Home Depot in Northeast one morning last week. Dozens of Latino men gathered around as the organizers explained how to file a detailed wage complaint with the D.C. government. One man unfolded a handwritten record of his jobs for a remodeler in April.

"I wrote down all my facts, but I don't know how to find the boss," said the man, Moises, who claimed he was never paid $739 for 82 hours of work. "He lives somewhere in Maryland, but his cell never answers."

In court, contractors often claim that a worker is lying or mistaken about the agreed wages, or that the worker is an independent contractor, which means he brings his tools, hires helpers and has the right to earn a profit but not to sue for back wages. Some business owners who hire day laborers say others take unfair advantage of the workers.

"It is not right," said Charles Hudson, a contractor in Falls Church who hires workers through Ramirez's office. "Some of them may be here illegally, but they come from poor countries and they bust their backs to make a living. They are good men, and they are making my company grow. Where they are born is an accident."

For laborers who join crews on larger jobs, it is somewhat easier to legally pursue unpaid wages. In one case, three area nonprofit groups helped some Hispanic workers file a class-action suit against Verizon Communications, claiming that the workers had not received all their pay after digging ditches for fiber-optic cable in the Washington area. Verizon has claimed the responsibility lies with the subcontractors who hired the workers.

Varela's law group also helped seven Hispanic workers sue for back wages from a painting company in Frederick. A federal judge ruled in the workers' favor in January, finding that immigration status was "irrelevant" to the case. The judge added that when employers "circumvent the labor laws as to undocumented aliens," it creates an "unacceptable economic incentive" to hire them at lower wages than U.S. residents or citizens.

Although such rulings bolster the laborers' cause, advocates said it is difficult to collect the workers' money. Often, Varela said, contractors do not appear in court. A judge might order that the wages be paid, but then nothing happens.

"We worked long and hard digging the ditches," said Francisco Luna, 43, a Mexican worker in the Verizon case. "They owed me almost $1,000, but the checks had insufficient funds. People are needy, and the employers have all the power. We only ask them to have a heart, and to respect the work we do."