This week the investigative platforms Documented and ProPública published a report that shows a “film” that could be “horror” in detail, about the prevalence of wage theft from workers, mostly undocumented. This time, the focus is placed especially on the slowness with which the New York State Department of Labor processes claims. In the event that the lawsuits are successful, the money reaches the pockets of the plaintiffs, in a time that can be expressed in years.
In total, after the crossing of federal and state investigators, it has been officially specified that during the last five years, more than $203 million in wages have been stolen from some 127,000 workers in New York.
The analysis of various data determined that through various tricks, that in this period more than $52 million had not been paid to people who worked in restaurants, more than in any other industry in New York. Which represents more than 25% of all reported wage theft.
As the investigation cites, according to the US Department of Labor, “it is almost certain that the amount of wage theft is well above what was estimated. In 2014, for example, census and employment data were analyzed to compare the reported wages of New York workers with what they should be earning based on the local minimum wage. It has been estimated that state employers steal as much as $1 billion from their workers each year.
In addition, it is noted that wage fraud was also a problem in the health care industry ($28.4 million dollars); construction ($27.6 million); cleaning services and retail stores ($5.9 million each); and supermarkets and convenience stores ($5.8 million).
The Documented and Propública report shows that New York ranks eighth in terms of the amount of disputed wages owed to the workforce in various industries.
The story of Marcelino Zapotec
The article gave as an example the case of Marcelino Zapoteco, a member of the organization that defends immigrants, Make the Road New York, (MTRNY), who worked at the Brioso restaurant, in Staten Island, for more than seven years.
Since he started his job there, Marcelino knew that he was paid very poorly. It was clear that he was receiving an income well below the legal minimum. When he worked as a waiter, he was paid as little as $10 for lunch and dinner shifts. Well below the required wage even when tips were included.
But the “breaking point” that motivated him to stop keeping quiet was in 2018, when he witnessed a manager seize all the money from a tip, which was supposed to be shared at the end of the day, with all the staff. group of waiters
When Marcelino complained, his employer’s response was that “if he didn’t like it, he could leave”.
He did so, but the next day he filed a formal complaint with the Department of Labor in Manhattan. A lawsuit whose resolution in order to recover the withheld wages took five long years.
Based on the shared details of the case, it took the state agency seven months to visit the restaurant for an initial investigation.
From that moment on, the work environment became increasingly hostile to Marcelino’s co-workers.
Therefore, MTRNY decided to intervene with co-couns Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss to file a class action on behalf of all workers.
The battle was partially won. But that meant years of waiting.
In 2018, a lawyer representing the owners of Brioso indicated that the complainant resigned from his job, “not due to wage theft, but because of a disagreement over the method of payment,” since the worker insisted that he be paid. in cash, instead of an automated payroll system.
The business owners eventually agreed to settle the civil lawsuit the former workers filed against them.
“They have to act faster”
In this sense, Elizabeth Jordan, legal co-director of Make the Road New York, says that after years of very low wages and working in abusive conditions, it took five years for two government agencies and two courts to reach an agreement to recover only a part of unpaid wages.
“The restaurant belonged to a repeat offender in labor abuses and continued to operate in violation of the law, for years, without consequences. Wage theft remains rampant in restaurants and other wage-bearing industries like construction, cleaning and others in New York,” he remarked.
The activist believes that existing city and state regulations will not adequately protect workers from violations, nor deter abusive employers, unless the agencies responsible for enforcing the laws have adequate resources to act more quickly.
Every year in New York state, thousands of workers face situations similar to those of Marcelino and his former Brioso coworkers.
“From 2017 to 2021, federal and state investigators found more than 13,000 cases of wage theft, according to an analysis of two databases obtained from the US and New York Departments of Labor,” notes the report published by these journalistic investigative platforms.
paying the piper
In this specific testimony, shared by Marcelino Zapoteco and which could be a replica of the abuse suffered by thousands of immigrants, Carlos Ortiz, a state investigator from the Department of Labor assigned to the case, detailed in reports obtained by Documented and ProPublica, various ways in which that the owners of this restaurant stole money from their workers.
For example, 5% of their tips were supposedly deducted to pay for the computer system and sometimes much more percentage was taken, in certain circumstances, especially when customers complained about their food, one of the most common wage theft schemes.
Another common practice, which takes money out of workers’ pockets, is to force them to buy their uniforms and pay for the piper.
In addition, the direct and indirect threats of the owners of these businesses to “throw out” the immigration authorities have been very recurring, even though in the Human Rights codes of the Big Apple it is a crime.
Labor experts say wage theft and workplace harassment is prevalent in the bar, restaurant and cafe industry because its workforce is largely made up of undocumented immigrants, who are less willing to come forward.
More than 60% of restaurant workers living in New York City are immigrants, according to a 2020 study by the New York State Comptroller’s Office. Of the industry’s 317,800 workers, 44% were Hispanic and 20% Asian, the study found.
Also, in New York, state minimum wage rules can also hurt restaurant employees. The normal rate is $14.20 to $15 per hour, but is $9.45 to $10 for food service workers, with the requirement that their employers make up the rest if tips don’t make up the difference.
“Do not accept jobs just for tips”
In this time, when thousands of new immigrants continue to arrive in the Big Apple, desperate to survive, the historical drama of wage theft could be adding other elements. Precisely, because there are many indicators that this practice could be expanding, due to the silence of thousands and thousands who are desperate to earn whatever and whatever.
“Vicente”, a Mexican worker at a restaurant on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, told El Diario that much progress had been made in recent years in respecting wages, at least to a minimum. Although he has witnessed “a setback” in recent months.
“Desperate people arrive asking for work for whatever. Many accept even just for tips. And that’s something that restaurant owners love. They have workers that cost you nothing. And everyone is happy, ”she commented with anguish.
This man from Puebla, with 20 years of service, today a restaurant manager, remembers that he began washing dishes and cleaning bathrooms. He now fears that the way for the owners of these businesses to obtain more profitability is to hire “practically slaves.”
“I know what is necessary. Of having children to feed. Of being an immigrant who starts. But the worst that can happen to us is that men and women arrive accepting any penny for a job. Because they would practically be ‘prostituting’ the work of several generations,” she said.
“Don’t get blown up”
Given the new immigration reality in New York City, which has received a flow of more than 100,000 people since spring 2022, various organizations and the City have been alert to the new risks of labor abuse.
Such is the case of the New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), which holds training and mediation sessions at its headquarters in Queens, to instruct the workforce on their rights, what steps to take, and how to avoid falling into the web of wage theft.
“Employers know that in many cases it is very easy to act without consequences. They are clear that abusing at this time, for many reasons, could be easier. And many workers, especially those who are just trying to figure out the system, are very vulnerable to having their wages stolen. We must continue to create training spaces”, reasoned Hildalyn Colón, director of NICE.
For his part, Aaron Cagwin, spokesman for the State Department of Labor, shared with Propública that, since 2015, said agency formed the Working Group against Wage Theft with the Prosecutor’s Office.
It is pondered that last year among many other actions, they obtained “felony convictions of nine employers on various charges. From defrauding the New York State Insurance Fund, to falsifying business records and not paying wages.”
In summary:
- 127,000 New York workers have been victims of wage theft in a five-year period between 2017 and 2021, based on cross-checking data from ProPública and Document.
- $203 million was the amount defrauded in that period of time.
- 25% of the affected workers belong to the restaurant sector