By Susan Ferriss and Joe Yerardi -
The Associated Press
Immigrants do some of the lowest paying and toughest jobs in America, and are often unfairly treated by their employers, who do not pay them what they owe.
Even if they are supported in filing a claim - with a state labor agency or the Department of Labor - they often settle for less money than they deserve to get it faster.
Farm workers work at a vineyard in Clarksburg, California, on March 24, 2020.Rich Pedroncelli / AP
This is what happened to Audelia Molina, a Mexican immigrant who earned 10 cents for each garment she cut in a Los Angeles factory, one of the main sources of wage theft in the country:
her employer owed her almost $ 23,000
.
Molina received an average of $ 199 a week, a salary that violated the overtime law.
His salary was so low that he began working 11-hour days to increase it.
When he asked for a raise, a supervisor denied it.
In July 2017, he resigned and turned to an employment law attorney to file a non-payment complaint with the California Labor Commissioner.
A year later, California found that Molina earned an average of $ 199 a week, a wage that violated the overtime law and rules that require pieceworkers to earn at least the state minimum wage of $ 10.50 per hour. .
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Molina had to wait another two years to receive her check.
His former employer, however, has yet to reimburse the state fund for scammed garment workers, a rare help California finances with the company registration fees that the money advanced.
"They
pay what they want. What they are interested in is getting the job done, and quickly,
" said Molina, who is now 58 years old, referring generally to the bosses he has had in clothing factories throughout of the years.
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Like Americans,
any foreign national whose work is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act has the right to be paid overtime
after 40 hours of work and the minimum hourly wage.
Industries with the highest percentage of foreign-born workers have higher rates of wage theft
But it is not surprising that immigrants, legal or not, are intimidated by their superiors - something illegal - if they demand their rights.
The Department of Labor, which operates in all states, does not ask victims of alleged wage theft if they are immigrants.
The agency clearly recognizes that complaints are reviewed regardless of workers' status
.
Immigrants, essential workers
An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity with data from the Department of Labor and the Census Bureau concluded that industries with the highest percentage of foreign-born workers have higher rates of wage theft.
16% of American workers are foreign-born.
But in the textile industry, immigrants account for 42%, one of the highest figures.
This industry is the second that has violated the payment of federal wages in the last 15 years, according to the aforementioned analysis.
The pandemic raised the issue of the high level of immigrant workers, especially the undocumented, who were essential workers "
Victor narro activist
"
Immigration is an integral part of the nation's economic growth,
" highlighted a 2016 National Academy of Sciences report. "If the economy grows and requires more workers both to replace those who retire and to create new businesses and industries ,
the main source of work will be first and second generation immigrants,
"he added.
[The Government proposes a plan to protect undocumented persons who report abusive employers from deportation]
The Labor Center of the University of California in Los Angeles stressed that "the pandemic highlighted the issue of the high level of immigrant workers, especially the undocumented, who were essential workers."
What are we going to do for them now? He wondered.
A problem that is not new
The labor exploitation of immigrants is a problem that the United States has dragged on for decades.
But between 1990 and 2007, the undocumented population tripled.
That created a community of
nearly 11 million people more vulnerable to
workplace
abuse
from coast to coast.
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The Department of Labor imposes a federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 per hour.
But if states or local jurisdictions have higher fees, the higher paying ones prevail.
Los Angeles County raised the minimum wage to $ 15 in July.
During the government of former President Barack Obama, the authorities carried out 77 investigations into textile factories in this area, of which
85% committed infractions and owed 1.3 million dollars in back wages
.
They also discovered that wage theft started with prices.
The money that manufacturers received from the stores for each piece was on average only 73% of what was necessary to pay their workers the minimum wage required.
In some cases, they were paid $ 4 a piece instead of the $ 10 it would take
.
A crisis for immigrant families
Multiple reports from UCLA's Center for Labor Research have long warned of a wage theft "crisis" that directly affects California immigrant families.
A 2010 report estimated that low-wage workers in Los Angeles County, mostly immigrants, lost an average of more than $ 2,000 a year, about $ 26 million a week.
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Texas, Florida and New York, where a large undocumented population is concentrated, are other states that
also fight against wage theft
.
"Employers fill their minds with things, like telling them: 'You can't do anything against me, you have to put up with your status. You shouldn't even be working. I'm doing you a favor,'" explained Lorena Rangel, from the Labor Center. Texas Faith and Justice.
This organization received 540 calls in a year denouncing employers for not paying at least 1.36 million dollars in salaries.