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"slug": "despite-record-budget-surplus-california-unlikely-to-fix-massive-wage-theft-claim-delays-anytime-soon",
"title": "Despite Record Budget Surplus, California Unlikely to Fix Massive Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Anytime Soon",
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"content": "\u003cp>Even as California enjoys a staggering budget surplus estimated at $68 billion, tens of thousands of workers who claim they were shorted on their paychecks are expected to continue to endure exasperating delays — often stretching years — at the state agency charged with investigating wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner’s Office, plagued by vacancies, is struggling to efficiently process 36,200 pending claims for unpaid wages. Close to half of those cases have taken longer than a year to resolve, while nearly 4,000 have languished for three years or more, according to Labor Commissioner’s Office records requested by KQED.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"María, restaurant worker in Berkeley\"]‘It’s very difficult for me to support my family and keep up with all of our expenses and bills. It’s taken too many years. As workers we have rights, and we need the authorities to solve this problem and do their job as it should be.’[/pullquote]The number of Californians directly hurt by the long wait times could be much higher, as multiple employees often jointly file one claim against an employer. The delays, which worsened during the pandemic, can make it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903291/its-so-unfair-major-delays-at-state-labor-agency-leave-many-wage-theft-victims-uncompensated\">more difficult for workers to ultimately recover any owed wages\u003c/a>, and fuel an environment of impunity, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María, a restaurant worker, has waited almost four years for a ruling on her claim for $35,000 in unpaid wages. KQED is withholding her full name because she fears it could hurt her case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the more than a decade that she washed dishes and cleaned at a Berkeley restaurant, María often worked overtime, she said. But her employer didn’t compensate her for those hours, or provide her with meal and rest breaks or paid sick leave, as required by law, according to her complaint filed in July 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the 50-year-old single mother of four, who is originally from Mexico, said she needs a resolution to her case urgently, noting that she has fallen behind on rent and fears her family could soon be evicted from their apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very difficult for me to support my family and keep up with all of our expenses and bills,” María said in Spanish. “It’s taken too many years. As workers we have rights, and we need the authorities to solve this problem and do their job as it should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Open Wage-Theft Cases Filed With the CA Labor Commissioner's Office\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-KRx6d\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KRx6d/6/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why the wait is so long\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many cases reach a settlement early in the Labor Commissioner’s wage-claim process, one originally designed as a faster and free-of-cost alternative to filing a lawsuit in state court. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/howtofilewageclaim.htm\">disputes that remain unresolved are given a hearing\u003c/a>, a trial-like event that aims to offer due process to both employers and workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By law, the Labor Commissioner, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, must hold hearings within 120 days of the date the claim was filed. Yet California workers are forced to wait an average of 808 days, or more than two years, for a hearing to resolve their case, according to agency data. The worst delays, averaging more than three years, are in the Oakland branch, where María submitted her claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees the Labor Commissioner’s Office, said the number of pending claims may include cases where the status was not updated, as the agency began using a new computer-management system in 2016. But she did not elaborate on why those errors have not yet been fixed, or how many cases still listed as pending may actually have been closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 24,000 claims have been filed on average per year since 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower acknowledged that the wait times for wage claim and citation hearings are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the problem of backlogs is not a new one, I am committed to doing everything in my power to reduce the amount of time workers who have suffered wage theft have to wait for justice,” she wrote. “My office is working tirelessly to improve the existing backlogs that were worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understaffing is a big problem at the agency, which scheduled more than 29,000 hearings for wage claims from 2019 thru 2021. Hearing officers must consider evidence and issue a final decision on individual worker complaints, as well as employer appeals on hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903291/its-so-unfair-major-delays-at-state-labor-agency-leave-many-wage-theft-victims-uncompensated\">citations issued by the agency\u003c/a>. Millions of dollars in fines and back wages are often at stake in those more complex cases, which can affect hundreds of employees at a time, and require hearings that last several days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, the Labor Commissioner has only 64 hearing-officer positions, and not all of them are filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has proposed adding just six more hearing officers and 17 other staff to support the wage-claim process statewide for the next fiscal year, which starts in July. That’s in part due to the increased workload the agency expects to have, resulting from new laws expanding its enforcement authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worker advocates have applauded that expansion, but warn that far more hearing officers are needed to address the huge backlog in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the numbers we are talking about, I’m not confident it’s going to make a meaningful dent” for workers, said Shane Gusman, who directs the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council. Gusman has lobbied in Sacramento for improvements at labor enforcement agencies, which he says have been historically starved for cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though there’s been growth in personnel and resources, they’ve never caught up,” said Gusman. “You could double the Labor Commissioner’s Office budget, and they would still be underfunded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/7000/7350.pdf\">Newsom’s office has proposed cutting the agency’s relatively small budget\u003c/a>, of about $155 million, by 6% next fiscal year, including a decrease of nearly $1 million for its wage-claim adjudication unit, according to records from the state Department of Finance. The overall budget reduction is due to the expiration of one-time funds for pilots and other projects at the division, finance officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Vacancies fueled by a catch-22\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Labor Commissioner and its parent agency, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), could request more funds from the budget being negotiated in Sacramento to hire additional hearing officers, \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">as they’ve done in previous years\u003c/a>. But any significant increases are unlikely to be approved by Newsom’s office and the Legislature, given DIR’s already high vacancy rate of 25%, a gap lawmakers mentioned during a February budget hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t necessarily give them more money if they have all these vacancies for the positions they currently already have” funds for, said San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, who chairs the Assembly’s Budget Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have more money, more resources. We could definitely assist,” said Ting, referring to the state’s abundant surplus. “But all we can do is just keep pushing them to hire those [vacancies] as fast as possible, get them up to speed as soon as possible so that they can start processing these claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ting, who used to work for a nonprofit organization that represents lower-income workers in wage-theft cases, said the budget committee would look into holding another oversight hearing into the long-standing vacancy problem in the fall.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"wage-theft\"]In fairness, many employers are having trouble hiring and retaining workers as the pandemic drags on, and the state hiring process can be slower than that of the private sector, with several layers of bureaucracy that may be involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, DIR vets many steps of the hiring process, from the language in job postings to the list of questions candidates can be asked during an interview, and the department is notoriously slow in approving hires, said Garrett Brown, a retired inspector from the Division of Occupational Health and Safety, or Cal/OSHA, another agency beholden to DIR’s hiring approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem here is failing to hire, and the failure to hire [is due to] difficulties in the state employment situation generally, magnified by many, many times, by the inability of the DIR HR staff to competently and swiftly hire and fill vacant positions,” said Brown, who has tracked vacancies for safety inspectors and other positions at his former agency for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The buck stops with the DIR director, Katie Hagen,” said Brown. “She was supposed to solve this problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hagen, who was appointed by Newsom in March 2020, does have a background in human resources. She declined an interview with KQED, but said in a statement that her department and the Labor Commissioner’s Office strive to hire qualified candidates “in line with the state’s merit based hiring requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal of DIR and the Labor Commissioner’s Office is to fill all vacant positions within the Department as quickly as possible, and the Department is making steady progress,” wrote Hagen. She added that the Labor Commissioner made 104 hires in its wage-claim adjudication unit between January 2021 and last April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That figure points to jaw-dropping turnover at the unit, which has a total of \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/budget/publications/2022-23/salaries-and-wages-updates/LWD.pdf\">250 positions\u003c/a> this year. The vacancies are contributing to low morale, said local attorneys who represent Bay Area workers in wage-theft cases. (\u003ca href=\"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/low-morale-at-labors-wage-and-hour-shrinks-investigative-ranks\">Low morale also is leading to attrition at a federal labor law enforcement agency\u003c/a>, according to a recent Bloomberg report.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María, the restaurant worker in Berkeley, said she’s cutting costs by going without things like new clothes, while trying to fight a gnawing fear that she might not recover the wages she believes she’s owed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feels frustrated not just for herself, she said, but for the thousands of working Californians who also are forced to wait years for a resolution, including many who can’t afford to have their wages stolen — and is incredulous the state hasn’t found a way to fix the delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has enough money,” María said. “Why don’t they solve this problem?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced in collaboration with the California Newsroom.\u003c/em> [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Severe understaffing has long been a big problem at the state agency responsible for enforcing minimum wage and other labor laws. Nearly half of the 36,200 pending claims for unpaid wages have taken more than a year to get resolved.",
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"title": "Despite Record Budget Surplus, California Unlikely to Fix Massive Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Anytime Soon | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Even as California enjoys a staggering budget surplus estimated at $68 billion, tens of thousands of workers who claim they were shorted on their paychecks are expected to continue to endure exasperating delays — often stretching years — at the state agency charged with investigating wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner’s Office, plagued by vacancies, is struggling to efficiently process 36,200 pending claims for unpaid wages. Close to half of those cases have taken longer than a year to resolve, while nearly 4,000 have languished for three years or more, according to Labor Commissioner’s Office records requested by KQED.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s very difficult for me to support my family and keep up with all of our expenses and bills. It’s taken too many years. As workers we have rights, and we need the authorities to solve this problem and do their job as it should be.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The number of Californians directly hurt by the long wait times could be much higher, as multiple employees often jointly file one claim against an employer. The delays, which worsened during the pandemic, can make it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903291/its-so-unfair-major-delays-at-state-labor-agency-leave-many-wage-theft-victims-uncompensated\">more difficult for workers to ultimately recover any owed wages\u003c/a>, and fuel an environment of impunity, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María, a restaurant worker, has waited almost four years for a ruling on her claim for $35,000 in unpaid wages. KQED is withholding her full name because she fears it could hurt her case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the more than a decade that she washed dishes and cleaned at a Berkeley restaurant, María often worked overtime, she said. But her employer didn’t compensate her for those hours, or provide her with meal and rest breaks or paid sick leave, as required by law, according to her complaint filed in July 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the 50-year-old single mother of four, who is originally from Mexico, said she needs a resolution to her case urgently, noting that she has fallen behind on rent and fears her family could soon be evicted from their apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very difficult for me to support my family and keep up with all of our expenses and bills,” María said in Spanish. “It’s taken too many years. As workers we have rights, and we need the authorities to solve this problem and do their job as it should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Open Wage-Theft Cases Filed With the CA Labor Commissioner's Office\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-KRx6d\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KRx6d/6/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why the wait is so long\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many cases reach a settlement early in the Labor Commissioner’s wage-claim process, one originally designed as a faster and free-of-cost alternative to filing a lawsuit in state court. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/howtofilewageclaim.htm\">disputes that remain unresolved are given a hearing\u003c/a>, a trial-like event that aims to offer due process to both employers and workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By law, the Labor Commissioner, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, must hold hearings within 120 days of the date the claim was filed. Yet California workers are forced to wait an average of 808 days, or more than two years, for a hearing to resolve their case, according to agency data. The worst delays, averaging more than three years, are in the Oakland branch, where María submitted her claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees the Labor Commissioner’s Office, said the number of pending claims may include cases where the status was not updated, as the agency began using a new computer-management system in 2016. But she did not elaborate on why those errors have not yet been fixed, or how many cases still listed as pending may actually have been closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 24,000 claims have been filed on average per year since 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower acknowledged that the wait times for wage claim and citation hearings are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the problem of backlogs is not a new one, I am committed to doing everything in my power to reduce the amount of time workers who have suffered wage theft have to wait for justice,” she wrote. “My office is working tirelessly to improve the existing backlogs that were worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understaffing is a big problem at the agency, which scheduled more than 29,000 hearings for wage claims from 2019 thru 2021. Hearing officers must consider evidence and issue a final decision on individual worker complaints, as well as employer appeals on hundreds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903291/its-so-unfair-major-delays-at-state-labor-agency-leave-many-wage-theft-victims-uncompensated\">citations issued by the agency\u003c/a>. Millions of dollars in fines and back wages are often at stake in those more complex cases, which can affect hundreds of employees at a time, and require hearings that last several days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, the Labor Commissioner has only 64 hearing-officer positions, and not all of them are filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has proposed adding just six more hearing officers and 17 other staff to support the wage-claim process statewide for the next fiscal year, which starts in July. That’s in part due to the increased workload the agency expects to have, resulting from new laws expanding its enforcement authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worker advocates have applauded that expansion, but warn that far more hearing officers are needed to address the huge backlog in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the numbers we are talking about, I’m not confident it’s going to make a meaningful dent” for workers, said Shane Gusman, who directs the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council. Gusman has lobbied in Sacramento for improvements at labor enforcement agencies, which he says have been historically starved for cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though there’s been growth in personnel and resources, they’ve never caught up,” said Gusman. “You could double the Labor Commissioner’s Office budget, and they would still be underfunded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/7000/7350.pdf\">Newsom’s office has proposed cutting the agency’s relatively small budget\u003c/a>, of about $155 million, by 6% next fiscal year, including a decrease of nearly $1 million for its wage-claim adjudication unit, according to records from the state Department of Finance. The overall budget reduction is due to the expiration of one-time funds for pilots and other projects at the division, finance officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Vacancies fueled by a catch-22\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Labor Commissioner and its parent agency, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), could request more funds from the budget being negotiated in Sacramento to hire additional hearing officers, \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">as they’ve done in previous years\u003c/a>. But any significant increases are unlikely to be approved by Newsom’s office and the Legislature, given DIR’s already high vacancy rate of 25%, a gap lawmakers mentioned during a February budget hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t necessarily give them more money if they have all these vacancies for the positions they currently already have” funds for, said San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, who chairs the Assembly’s Budget Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have more money, more resources. We could definitely assist,” said Ting, referring to the state’s abundant surplus. “But all we can do is just keep pushing them to hire those [vacancies] as fast as possible, get them up to speed as soon as possible so that they can start processing these claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ting, who used to work for a nonprofit organization that represents lower-income workers in wage-theft cases, said the budget committee would look into holding another oversight hearing into the long-standing vacancy problem in the fall.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In fairness, many employers are having trouble hiring and retaining workers as the pandemic drags on, and the state hiring process can be slower than that of the private sector, with several layers of bureaucracy that may be involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, DIR vets many steps of the hiring process, from the language in job postings to the list of questions candidates can be asked during an interview, and the department is notoriously slow in approving hires, said Garrett Brown, a retired inspector from the Division of Occupational Health and Safety, or Cal/OSHA, another agency beholden to DIR’s hiring approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem here is failing to hire, and the failure to hire [is due to] difficulties in the state employment situation generally, magnified by many, many times, by the inability of the DIR HR staff to competently and swiftly hire and fill vacant positions,” said Brown, who has tracked vacancies for safety inspectors and other positions at his former agency for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The buck stops with the DIR director, Katie Hagen,” said Brown. “She was supposed to solve this problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hagen, who was appointed by Newsom in March 2020, does have a background in human resources. She declined an interview with KQED, but said in a statement that her department and the Labor Commissioner’s Office strive to hire qualified candidates “in line with the state’s merit based hiring requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal of DIR and the Labor Commissioner’s Office is to fill all vacant positions within the Department as quickly as possible, and the Department is making steady progress,” wrote Hagen. She added that the Labor Commissioner made 104 hires in its wage-claim adjudication unit between January 2021 and last April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That figure points to jaw-dropping turnover at the unit, which has a total of \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/budget/publications/2022-23/salaries-and-wages-updates/LWD.pdf\">250 positions\u003c/a> this year. The vacancies are contributing to low morale, said local attorneys who represent Bay Area workers in wage-theft cases. (\u003ca href=\"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/low-morale-at-labors-wage-and-hour-shrinks-investigative-ranks\">Low morale also is leading to attrition at a federal labor law enforcement agency\u003c/a>, according to a recent Bloomberg report.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>María, the restaurant worker in Berkeley, said she’s cutting costs by going without things like new clothes, while trying to fight a gnawing fear that she might not recover the wages she believes she’s owed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feels frustrated not just for herself, she said, but for the thousands of working Californians who also are forced to wait years for a resolution, including many who can’t afford to have their wages stolen — and is incredulous the state hasn’t found a way to fix the delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has enough money,” María said. “Why don’t they solve this problem?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced in collaboration with the California Newsroom.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Most Fast-Food Workers Are Victims of Wage Theft, Survey Finds",
"title": "Most Fast-Food Workers Are Victims of Wage Theft, Survey Finds",
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"content": "\u003cp>Some of California’s lowest-paid workers at fast-food restaurants report that their employers have shorted them on their paychecks. A survey, released today by Fight for $15, a campaign funded by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, concludes wage theft is a pervasive problem in an industry where top corporations earned billions of dollars of profit during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A whopping 85% of the more than 400 survey respondents in dozens of California cities said they experienced at least one form of labor law violation, such as insufficient overtime pay or not getting compensated for hours worked off the clock. Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://fastfoodjusticeahora.com/scammed\">60% were victims of multiple types of wage theft\u003c/a>, according to the survey, which was conducted by bilingual outreach workers with \u003ca href=\"https://fightfor15.org/\">Fight for $15\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report’s authors argue a big part of the problem is the franchise model common in fast food — namely, that the economic relationship between corporations and franchisees incentivizes the latter to cut corners on payroll, one of the few business expenses under their control. Meanwhile, corporations, which contractually control most aspects of franchise operations, are insulated by those same contracts from any responsibility for wage theft or other violations.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ken Jacobs, chair, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education\"]'It becomes very difficult to run a profitable store and follow labor employment laws.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SEIU is co-sponsoring a bill in the state Legislature that would make California the first state in the nation to make corporations liable for any labor law violations affecting an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/fiscal-effects-of-the-fast-food-accountability-and-standards-recovery-act-ab-257/\">550,000 fast-food workers\u003c/a>. Most workers are adult people of color, including many immigrants, making close to minimum wage. In California, minimum wage is $14 an hour for employees in firms with 25 employees or less, and $15 an hour for larger businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The consequences of wage theft\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For years, María Bernal says she often completed double shifts of 14 hours a day at a Jack in the Box restaurant near Sacramento. But she was paid for only about two thirds of that time, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me very angry because I needed that money to pay for my expenses,” said Bernal, in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The single mother of three, originally from Mexico, said she asked the store manager for the owed wages, but was rebuffed and even threatened with significantly fewer work hours if she kept raising concerns. Close to a third of respondents to the SEIU survey said they were retaliated against for requesting owed wages or compensation for a sick day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About two years ago, when Bernal’s youngest son was 3 years old, she fell behind on her rent and the family was evicted. They slept in their car for about six months, she said. Her worst fear: that someone would break into their car while they were sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very difficult,” said Bernal, 43. “I cried often just looking at my kids in that situation. I’d think, ‘God, how can we be living like this if I’m working so much?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, with the help of union organizers, Bernal filed a claim with the state agency tasked with investigating wage theft for $86,200 in unpaid wages over a period of more than three years. But the Labor Commissioner’s Office is struggling with understaffing, and there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906889/california-workers-face-years-long-waits-for-justice-in-wage-theft-cases-state-data-shows\">years-long delays for hearings\u003c/a> needed to resolve cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means Bernal, and another fast-food worker who filed a wage claim with the agency, María Yolanda Torres, might not see a timely resolution in their cases. Even after state authorities rule in favor of workers, it’s often \u003ca href=\"https://www.nelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Hollow-Victories-Unpaid-Wages-Report.pdf\">difficult for them to recover the money they earned\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>'With the money I didn't get, I was planning to buy food'\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Torres said her employer at a Subway franchise in San José refused to pay her for sick time off — the most common type of wage theft in the state, according to the survey. Her employer also erased dozens of accrued paid sick hours from her pay stubs without compensating her, she said, including when she missed work for a day due to a painful bladder infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the money I didn’t get, I was planning to buy food,” said Torres, 47, the mother of two kids. “I felt so disappointed or angry, because I reached him trying to get my money back. And he ignored me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related-coverage\" tag=\"wage-theft\"]Other co-workers at the Subway who got sick with COVID weren’t paid either, according to the complaint Torres filed with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. California law guarantees at least three days of paid sick leave per year and up to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/COVID19Resources/2022-SPSL-FAQs.html\">two weeks of COVID-related sick leave\u003c/a> for businesses with 26 or more employees, like the franchise where Torres works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernal’s and Torres’s employers declined to respond to KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many fast-food giants were highly profitable during the pandemic, as chains did not shut down operations as demand increased at drive-thrus. \u003ca href=\"https://www.qsrmagazine.com/fast-food/mcdonalds-rewrites-record-book-2021\">McDonald’s Corp., for instance, reaped nearly $10 billion in profits\u003c/a>, as operating income, in 2021, according to company reports to shareholders noted in the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the financial picture can be remarkably different for the small-business owners who own the chains’ franchise stores, which represent the vast majority of fast-food restaurants, said Ken Jacobs, who chairs the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/072516/cost-buying-mcdonalds-franchise-mcd.asp#:~:text=McDonald's%20franchisee%20applicants%20must%20have,of%20%241%20million%20or%20more.\">Corporations charge franchisees expensive fees\u003c/a> while controlling most aspects of operating a chain store, from the way stores look to the ingredients in meals. One thing franchisees can control is what they pay employees. That’s what makes shaving paychecks an attractive option for employers looking to bolster slim profit margins, Jacobs said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes very difficult to run a profitable store and follow labor employment laws,” said Jacobs, whose own \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Fast-Food-Frontline-Report-1-3-22.pdf\">research also has found frequent wage theft in the fast-food industry\u003c/a>. “The real responsible party there is the corporate headquarters. They’re the ones who are setting the rules that are creating the situation. But who the law currently holds accountable is the store owner because they are making that decision on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous studies also have found high levels of wage theft in the fast-food industry. But industry lobbyists and representatives countered that the new results were misleading, partly because of the sample size of respondents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This survey relies on a small sample size and does not represent how McDonald’s and its local franchisees are focusing on the well-being of restaurant employees,” a spokesperson for McDonald’s Corp. said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spokesperson added that in 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/article/.mcopco-wage-raise.html\">McDonald’s increased hourly wages at company-owned restaurants by an average of 10%\u003c/a>, and saw many franchises also raise wages and offer their staffers benefits like additional paid time off and tuition assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will continue to focus on what’s most important to our people — including pay and benefits, training and growth opportunities, and recognition and appreciation — to attract and retain talent in this competitive hiring environment,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jack in the Box, Subway, Taco Bell, KFC, Carl’s Junior and other companies did not return KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB257\">AB 257\u003c/a>, known as the FAST Recovery Act, would allow workers to have a greater say in their labor conditions, by creating a council that includes them, as well as employers, franchisers and state labor enforcement agencies. The council would have the authority to set minimum standards for the industry and tackle problems like wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, which passed the state Assembly with the minimum number of votes and now faces a battle in the state Senate, also would make fast-food corporations liable for fines for labor law or other violations by franchisees, and allow those small-business owners to sue corporations for contracts that prevent compliance with the laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters contend that if the companies saw hits to their profits, they’d change franchise rules to ultimately improve working conditions for frontline workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Huerta, president of SEIU California, said lawmakers should support vulnerable food workers who were considered essential at the height of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fast-food workers understand that they are victims of a system, cards that have been stacked against them,” he said. “They want a change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jeff Hanscom of the International Franchise Association, which opposes the bill, said the state should focus on enforcing the laws already on the books to address bad actors, rather than “taking away opportunities” from small-business owners. The proposed regulation would also hike fast-food prices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In addition to forcing these hard working entrepreneurs to become employees of their brands, the FAST Act will increase prices at the worst time for millions of working Californians hit hardest by rising food, gas and housing prices,” Hanscom, who leads the associations’ lobbying efforts at the state level, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A whopping 85% of the more than 400 survey respondents in dozens of California cities said they experienced at least one form of labor law violation, such as insufficient overtime pay.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Some of California’s lowest-paid workers at fast-food restaurants report that their employers have shorted them on their paychecks. A survey, released today by Fight for $15, a campaign funded by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, concludes wage theft is a pervasive problem in an industry where top corporations earned billions of dollars of profit during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A whopping 85% of the more than 400 survey respondents in dozens of California cities said they experienced at least one form of labor law violation, such as insufficient overtime pay or not getting compensated for hours worked off the clock. Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://fastfoodjusticeahora.com/scammed\">60% were victims of multiple types of wage theft\u003c/a>, according to the survey, which was conducted by bilingual outreach workers with \u003ca href=\"https://fightfor15.org/\">Fight for $15\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report’s authors argue a big part of the problem is the franchise model common in fast food — namely, that the economic relationship between corporations and franchisees incentivizes the latter to cut corners on payroll, one of the few business expenses under their control. Meanwhile, corporations, which contractually control most aspects of franchise operations, are insulated by those same contracts from any responsibility for wage theft or other violations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SEIU is co-sponsoring a bill in the state Legislature that would make California the first state in the nation to make corporations liable for any labor law violations affecting an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/fiscal-effects-of-the-fast-food-accountability-and-standards-recovery-act-ab-257/\">550,000 fast-food workers\u003c/a>. Most workers are adult people of color, including many immigrants, making close to minimum wage. In California, minimum wage is $14 an hour for employees in firms with 25 employees or less, and $15 an hour for larger businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The consequences of wage theft\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For years, María Bernal says she often completed double shifts of 14 hours a day at a Jack in the Box restaurant near Sacramento. But she was paid for only about two thirds of that time, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me very angry because I needed that money to pay for my expenses,” said Bernal, in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The single mother of three, originally from Mexico, said she asked the store manager for the owed wages, but was rebuffed and even threatened with significantly fewer work hours if she kept raising concerns. Close to a third of respondents to the SEIU survey said they were retaliated against for requesting owed wages or compensation for a sick day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About two years ago, when Bernal’s youngest son was 3 years old, she fell behind on her rent and the family was evicted. They slept in their car for about six months, she said. Her worst fear: that someone would break into their car while they were sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very difficult,” said Bernal, 43. “I cried often just looking at my kids in that situation. I’d think, ‘God, how can we be living like this if I’m working so much?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, with the help of union organizers, Bernal filed a claim with the state agency tasked with investigating wage theft for $86,200 in unpaid wages over a period of more than three years. But the Labor Commissioner’s Office is struggling with understaffing, and there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11906889/california-workers-face-years-long-waits-for-justice-in-wage-theft-cases-state-data-shows\">years-long delays for hearings\u003c/a> needed to resolve cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means Bernal, and another fast-food worker who filed a wage claim with the agency, María Yolanda Torres, might not see a timely resolution in their cases. Even after state authorities rule in favor of workers, it’s often \u003ca href=\"https://www.nelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Hollow-Victories-Unpaid-Wages-Report.pdf\">difficult for them to recover the money they earned\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>'With the money I didn't get, I was planning to buy food'\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Torres said her employer at a Subway franchise in San José refused to pay her for sick time off — the most common type of wage theft in the state, according to the survey. Her employer also erased dozens of accrued paid sick hours from her pay stubs without compensating her, she said, including when she missed work for a day due to a painful bladder infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the money I didn’t get, I was planning to buy food,” said Torres, 47, the mother of two kids. “I felt so disappointed or angry, because I reached him trying to get my money back. And he ignored me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Other co-workers at the Subway who got sick with COVID weren’t paid either, according to the complaint Torres filed with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. California law guarantees at least three days of paid sick leave per year and up to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/COVID19Resources/2022-SPSL-FAQs.html\">two weeks of COVID-related sick leave\u003c/a> for businesses with 26 or more employees, like the franchise where Torres works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernal’s and Torres’s employers declined to respond to KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many fast-food giants were highly profitable during the pandemic, as chains did not shut down operations as demand increased at drive-thrus. \u003ca href=\"https://www.qsrmagazine.com/fast-food/mcdonalds-rewrites-record-book-2021\">McDonald’s Corp., for instance, reaped nearly $10 billion in profits\u003c/a>, as operating income, in 2021, according to company reports to shareholders noted in the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the financial picture can be remarkably different for the small-business owners who own the chains’ franchise stores, which represent the vast majority of fast-food restaurants, said Ken Jacobs, who chairs the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/072516/cost-buying-mcdonalds-franchise-mcd.asp#:~:text=McDonald's%20franchisee%20applicants%20must%20have,of%20%241%20million%20or%20more.\">Corporations charge franchisees expensive fees\u003c/a> while controlling most aspects of operating a chain store, from the way stores look to the ingredients in meals. One thing franchisees can control is what they pay employees. That’s what makes shaving paychecks an attractive option for employers looking to bolster slim profit margins, Jacobs said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes very difficult to run a profitable store and follow labor employment laws,” said Jacobs, whose own \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Fast-Food-Frontline-Report-1-3-22.pdf\">research also has found frequent wage theft in the fast-food industry\u003c/a>. “The real responsible party there is the corporate headquarters. They’re the ones who are setting the rules that are creating the situation. But who the law currently holds accountable is the store owner because they are making that decision on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous studies also have found high levels of wage theft in the fast-food industry. But industry lobbyists and representatives countered that the new results were misleading, partly because of the sample size of respondents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This survey relies on a small sample size and does not represent how McDonald’s and its local franchisees are focusing on the well-being of restaurant employees,” a spokesperson for McDonald’s Corp. said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spokesperson added that in 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/article/.mcopco-wage-raise.html\">McDonald’s increased hourly wages at company-owned restaurants by an average of 10%\u003c/a>, and saw many franchises also raise wages and offer their staffers benefits like additional paid time off and tuition assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will continue to focus on what’s most important to our people — including pay and benefits, training and growth opportunities, and recognition and appreciation — to attract and retain talent in this competitive hiring environment,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jack in the Box, Subway, Taco Bell, KFC, Carl’s Junior and other companies did not return KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB257\">AB 257\u003c/a>, known as the FAST Recovery Act, would allow workers to have a greater say in their labor conditions, by creating a council that includes them, as well as employers, franchisers and state labor enforcement agencies. The council would have the authority to set minimum standards for the industry and tackle problems like wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, which passed the state Assembly with the minimum number of votes and now faces a battle in the state Senate, also would make fast-food corporations liable for fines for labor law or other violations by franchisees, and allow those small-business owners to sue corporations for contracts that prevent compliance with the laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters contend that if the companies saw hits to their profits, they’d change franchise rules to ultimately improve working conditions for frontline workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Huerta, president of SEIU California, said lawmakers should support vulnerable food workers who were considered essential at the height of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fast-food workers understand that they are victims of a system, cards that have been stacked against them,” he said. “They want a change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jeff Hanscom of the International Franchise Association, which opposes the bill, said the state should focus on enforcing the laws already on the books to address bad actors, rather than “taking away opportunities” from small-business owners. The proposed regulation would also hike fast-food prices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In addition to forcing these hard working entrepreneurs to become employees of their brands, the FAST Act will increase prices at the worst time for millions of working Californians hit hardest by rising food, gas and housing prices,” Hanscom, who leads the associations’ lobbying efforts at the state level, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png\">\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11903654\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png\" alt='Cartoon: a bacon cheeseburger labeled, \"$1.99, ready in one minute,\" opposite a crowd of fast food workers labeled, \"$2 million and still waiting.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1343\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-800x560.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-1020x713.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-160x112.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-1536x1074.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the state Assembly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903450/state-assembly-backs-new-council-to-oversee-fast-food-industry\">passed a bill\u003c/a> on Monday that would establish a council to regulate the fast food industry, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fiorewagetheft\">victims of wage theft continue to wait for the money they're owed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though many different businesses stiff their workers, the fast food industry is notorious for not paying its employees for overtime and meal or rest breaks as required by law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A restaurant group that owned several Burger King franchises in San Francisco is on the hook for around $2 million in wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with distributing restitution to victims of wage theft, seems to be about as efficient as a snail towing a glacier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who can least afford to go without their wages are suffering thanks to greedy corporations and an overwhelmed state agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png\">\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11903654\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png\" alt='Cartoon: a bacon cheeseburger labeled, \"$1.99, ready in one minute,\" opposite a crowd of fast food workers labeled, \"$2 million and still waiting.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1343\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-800x560.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-1020x713.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-160x112.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/waiting_020122_final-1536x1074.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the state Assembly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11903450/state-assembly-backs-new-council-to-oversee-fast-food-industry\">passed a bill\u003c/a> on Monday that would establish a council to regulate the fast food industry, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fiorewagetheft\">victims of wage theft continue to wait for the money they're owed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though many different businesses stiff their workers, the fast food industry is notorious for not paying its employees for overtime and meal or rest breaks as required by law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A restaurant group that owned several Burger King franchises in San Francisco is on the hook for around $2 million in wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with distributing restitution to victims of wage theft, seems to be about as efficient as a snail towing a glacier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who can least afford to go without their wages are suffering thanks to greedy corporations and an overwhelmed state agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Thousands of California workers whose employers collectively owe them millions of dollars in unpaid wages are at risk of never seeing the money they earned, as the state watchdog agency investigating wage-theft cases is failing to resolve them in a timely way, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the businesses in question were cited by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for systematically dodging labor laws, after investigators conducted lengthy reviews, including payroll record audits and interviews with employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers have the right to appeal those citations — which typically come with hefty fines — and most do, said worker attorneys. The next step is a hearing at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency, whose mission is to combat wage theft, can take years to schedule those hearings, delaying restitution for workers, most of whom are in lower-wage industries.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose\"]‘This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing. Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.’[/pullquote]The longer the cases drag on, the harder it is for workers to collect what’s owed them, advocates said. The backlog has only worsened during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said the delays at the agency, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing,” said Cortese, who chairs the state Senate Labor, Employment and Retirement Committee. “Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers living paycheck to paycheck, that pain is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Crisostomo, a 47-year-old single mother, worked as a prep cook and cashier at a San Francisco Burger King franchise from 2016 to 2019. But her boss consistently shorted her paychecks, and she is now owed more than $38,000, according to a June 2020 citation issued by state investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If she had received at least some of that money in a timely manner, it could have saved her family from losing their apartment, she said. Instead, when her next job, cleaning offices, ended during the pandemic, Crisostomo was unable to make rent. She and her children moved into the crowded home of a relative and relied on food banks to eat, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was left with nothing,” said Crisostomo, who said she’s not eligible for unemployment benefits. “It was really hard. … With at least some of that money, we wouldn’t have had so many limitations. I wouldn’t have left my apartment, I wouldn’t have gotten into debt with rent, with bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crisostomo’s former employer, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc., was \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21192427-golden-gate-restaurant-group-inc-cure-letter-for-amended-citation-wa-568497-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found liable\u003c/a> for a total of nearly $2 million for failing to pay more than 230 of its employees minimum wage, overtime or meal and rest breaks at several of the Burger King restaurants it operated in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the wronged employees has collected a cent from that citation, because — 19 months later — the state Labor Commissioner’s Office has not yet scheduled a hearing on the company’s appeal, said attorneys representing workers. Until that happens, the case cannot move forward, unless the employer chooses to settle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so unfair that the state is not trying to speed this up,” said Crisostomo, an immigrant from El Salvador, speaking in Spanish. “They should be more strict with this type of employer and pressure them to follow the law. If it’s true that workers have rights, the state should enforce them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11903311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman standing on a street.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Crisostomo, 47, waits for the bus home after work in downtown San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2022. Her old employer owes her more than $38,000, state investigators found. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Neither Monu Singh, Golden Gate Restaurant Group’s CEO and president, nor Sanjay Ahuja, its secretary at the time of the investigation, returned KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the company has taken advantage of the delay to shield its assets, which doesn’t bode well for the cheated employees, said Alexx Campbell, who is representing workers in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company that did this to them has been starting to move assets around and to shut down restaurants in San Francisco and is potentially making moves to avoid payment altogether,” said Campbell, an attorney with the nonprofit group Legal Aid at Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office declined several interview requests, and would not comment on hearing delays for this case or others investigated by its Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE), the branch of the agency that handles pay violations affecting multiple employees at a single company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in 2019, agency officials acknowledged that delays were hurting workers. They said changes in the law had given them new tools to combat wage theft but made the process take longer. And they asked the Legislature for a budget increase to hire more staff for its \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlseWagesandHours.html\">Wage Claim Adjudication\u003c/a> (WCA) unit, whose officers generally handle appeals of both big BOFE citations and wage claims brought by individual workers — the latter of which totaled more than 32,000 in 2018. WCA may also refer more complex BOFE cases to the Labor Commissioner’s legal unit for an attorney to act as a hearing officer. [aside label=\"Related Coverage\" tag=\"labor-rights\"]In the \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">budget request\u003c/a>, officials wrote that, by law, those individual hearings are supposed to take place within 120 days of the date of the complaint. But the average wait time for individuals was nearly 400 days in 2018, and administrators projected that it would grow to 572 days — 19 months — by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the WCA drowning in stale wage claims awaiting hearing, all the while receiving more new claims each year, the WCA unit is in desperate need of Deputies and Hearing Officers to address burgeoning processing times and ensure cheated workers are receiving justice in a reasonable amount of time,” wrote Carlos Torres, assistant chief of the WCA unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the pandemic hit, the backlog got significantly worse, as the agency temporarily halted in-person proceedings and struggled to conduct business remotely, advocates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED tracked several large cases that have languished without a hearing, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A $4.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">citation\u003c/a> against Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and contractors in San Diego and Orange counties for underpaying 559 janitorial workers. The fines were issued in June 2018, but 3 1/2 years later, a hearing has not yet been held, according to the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a janitorial industry watchdog group.\u003c/li>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>A $12 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">citation\u003c/a> against RDV Construction Inc. in the Los Angeles area for withholding wages from more than a 1,000 workers. The fines were issued in February 2019, but no hearing has yet occurred nearly three years later, according to the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee, a group that helped tip the state to the violations.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>These cases represent just a few of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DLSEReports.htm\">6,831 violations\u003c/a> BOFE cited in fiscal years 2017-2019, according to its enforcement reports to the Legislature. The proposed fines totaled more than $228 million, but only about 12% of that amount was collected in those years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cases drag on, businesses can close or go bankrupt, while witnesses move away or give up on the case, complicating efforts to get restitution for workers, said Patrick Mulligan, who directs San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mulligan’s office cited Golden Gate Restaurant Group, the Burger King franchisee, after its own investigation found the company violated a city health care ordinance. The company settled in September 2020, agreeing to pay employees more than $803,000 over the course of 10 years, of which about $150,000 has been collected, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noting the long payment plan, Mulligan acknowledged the agreement was not “everything the workers deserved,” but said at least it’s money they can put in their pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903335\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11903335 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people holding signs in Spanish, protesting in front of a Burger King restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to them, on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the franchise, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc. was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for multiple violations, including failing to pay workers minimum wage and overtime. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For us, ultimately, our goal of establishing a strong atmosphere of labor enforcement means timely and responsive enforcement actions,” he said. “And then on the other side, it limits the amount of hardship for workers if the matter gets resolved as expeditiously as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres, at the state Labor Commissioner’s WCA unit, recognized that delays give unscrupulous employers an “increased opportunity to further evade the responsibility of unpaid wages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Low-wage workers may be in situations where they are forced to give up in the process … that may result in a paper judgment that leaves little promise of collectability after so much time has passed by,” wrote Torres in his 2019 budget request for more staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unit, which was initially established to give workers a no-cost, quick alternative to suing an employer in state court, has \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/Budget/Salaries_Wages_Supplement/documents/LWD_combined.pdf\">just 64 hearing officer positions\u003c/a>, according to state Department of Finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have way more cases than one person should be assigned,” said Renee Amador, legal director with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. “We have the Labor Commissioner’s Office who is passionate about enforcing the law. But if they don’t have the people that can do so, they’re [only] going to be able to do so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the Legislature approved funding to increase the unit by 63 positions, including 14 new hearing officers, by mid-2024. And the agency has since hired more staff. But it’s unclear whether that has resulted in shorter processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Cortese said the agency remains inefficient, and plans to hold committee hearings on the delays in coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been the case over the years at the Labor Commissioner’s. This is not a new problem,” Cortese said. “And that usually means the entire culture of the operation needs to be addressed and revisited and restructured.”[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated to reflect a potential additional step in the Labor Commissioner’s processing of large wage-theft cases.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Thousands of California workers whose employers collectively owe them millions of dollars in unpaid wages are at risk of never seeing the money they earned, as the state watchdog agency investigating wage-theft cases is failing to resolve them in a timely way, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the businesses in question were cited by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for systematically dodging labor laws, after investigators conducted lengthy reviews, including payroll record audits and interviews with employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers have the right to appeal those citations — which typically come with hefty fines — and most do, said worker attorneys. The next step is a hearing at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency, whose mission is to combat wage theft, can take years to schedule those hearings, delaying restitution for workers, most of whom are in lower-wage industries.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The longer the cases drag on, the harder it is for workers to collect what’s owed them, advocates said. The backlog has only worsened during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said the delays at the agency, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing,” said Cortese, who chairs the state Senate Labor, Employment and Retirement Committee. “Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers living paycheck to paycheck, that pain is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Crisostomo, a 47-year-old single mother, worked as a prep cook and cashier at a San Francisco Burger King franchise from 2016 to 2019. But her boss consistently shorted her paychecks, and she is now owed more than $38,000, according to a June 2020 citation issued by state investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If she had received at least some of that money in a timely manner, it could have saved her family from losing their apartment, she said. Instead, when her next job, cleaning offices, ended during the pandemic, Crisostomo was unable to make rent. She and her children moved into the crowded home of a relative and relied on food banks to eat, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was left with nothing,” said Crisostomo, who said she’s not eligible for unemployment benefits. “It was really hard. … With at least some of that money, we wouldn’t have had so many limitations. I wouldn’t have left my apartment, I wouldn’t have gotten into debt with rent, with bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crisostomo’s former employer, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc., was \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21192427-golden-gate-restaurant-group-inc-cure-letter-for-amended-citation-wa-568497-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found liable\u003c/a> for a total of nearly $2 million for failing to pay more than 230 of its employees minimum wage, overtime or meal and rest breaks at several of the Burger King restaurants it operated in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the wronged employees has collected a cent from that citation, because — 19 months later — the state Labor Commissioner’s Office has not yet scheduled a hearing on the company’s appeal, said attorneys representing workers. Until that happens, the case cannot move forward, unless the employer chooses to settle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so unfair that the state is not trying to speed this up,” said Crisostomo, an immigrant from El Salvador, speaking in Spanish. “They should be more strict with this type of employer and pressure them to follow the law. If it’s true that workers have rights, the state should enforce them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11903311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman standing on a street.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Crisostomo, 47, waits for the bus home after work in downtown San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2022. Her old employer owes her more than $38,000, state investigators found. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Neither Monu Singh, Golden Gate Restaurant Group’s CEO and president, nor Sanjay Ahuja, its secretary at the time of the investigation, returned KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the company has taken advantage of the delay to shield its assets, which doesn’t bode well for the cheated employees, said Alexx Campbell, who is representing workers in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company that did this to them has been starting to move assets around and to shut down restaurants in San Francisco and is potentially making moves to avoid payment altogether,” said Campbell, an attorney with the nonprofit group Legal Aid at Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office declined several interview requests, and would not comment on hearing delays for this case or others investigated by its Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE), the branch of the agency that handles pay violations affecting multiple employees at a single company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in 2019, agency officials acknowledged that delays were hurting workers. They said changes in the law had given them new tools to combat wage theft but made the process take longer. And they asked the Legislature for a budget increase to hire more staff for its \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlseWagesandHours.html\">Wage Claim Adjudication\u003c/a> (WCA) unit, whose officers generally handle appeals of both big BOFE citations and wage claims brought by individual workers — the latter of which totaled more than 32,000 in 2018. WCA may also refer more complex BOFE cases to the Labor Commissioner’s legal unit for an attorney to act as a hearing officer. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">budget request\u003c/a>, officials wrote that, by law, those individual hearings are supposed to take place within 120 days of the date of the complaint. But the average wait time for individuals was nearly 400 days in 2018, and administrators projected that it would grow to 572 days — 19 months — by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the WCA drowning in stale wage claims awaiting hearing, all the while receiving more new claims each year, the WCA unit is in desperate need of Deputies and Hearing Officers to address burgeoning processing times and ensure cheated workers are receiving justice in a reasonable amount of time,” wrote Carlos Torres, assistant chief of the WCA unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the pandemic hit, the backlog got significantly worse, as the agency temporarily halted in-person proceedings and struggled to conduct business remotely, advocates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED tracked several large cases that have languished without a hearing, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A $4.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">citation\u003c/a> against Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and contractors in San Diego and Orange counties for underpaying 559 janitorial workers. The fines were issued in June 2018, but 3 1/2 years later, a hearing has not yet been held, according to the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a janitorial industry watchdog group.\u003c/li>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>A $12 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">citation\u003c/a> against RDV Construction Inc. in the Los Angeles area for withholding wages from more than a 1,000 workers. The fines were issued in February 2019, but no hearing has yet occurred nearly three years later, according to the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee, a group that helped tip the state to the violations.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>These cases represent just a few of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DLSEReports.htm\">6,831 violations\u003c/a> BOFE cited in fiscal years 2017-2019, according to its enforcement reports to the Legislature. The proposed fines totaled more than $228 million, but only about 12% of that amount was collected in those years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cases drag on, businesses can close or go bankrupt, while witnesses move away or give up on the case, complicating efforts to get restitution for workers, said Patrick Mulligan, who directs San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mulligan’s office cited Golden Gate Restaurant Group, the Burger King franchisee, after its own investigation found the company violated a city health care ordinance. The company settled in September 2020, agreeing to pay employees more than $803,000 over the course of 10 years, of which about $150,000 has been collected, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noting the long payment plan, Mulligan acknowledged the agreement was not “everything the workers deserved,” but said at least it’s money they can put in their pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903335\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11903335 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people holding signs in Spanish, protesting in front of a Burger King restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to them, on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the franchise, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc. was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for multiple violations, including failing to pay workers minimum wage and overtime. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For us, ultimately, our goal of establishing a strong atmosphere of labor enforcement means timely and responsive enforcement actions,” he said. “And then on the other side, it limits the amount of hardship for workers if the matter gets resolved as expeditiously as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres, at the state Labor Commissioner’s WCA unit, recognized that delays give unscrupulous employers an “increased opportunity to further evade the responsibility of unpaid wages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Low-wage workers may be in situations where they are forced to give up in the process … that may result in a paper judgment that leaves little promise of collectability after so much time has passed by,” wrote Torres in his 2019 budget request for more staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unit, which was initially established to give workers a no-cost, quick alternative to suing an employer in state court, has \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/Budget/Salaries_Wages_Supplement/documents/LWD_combined.pdf\">just 64 hearing officer positions\u003c/a>, according to state Department of Finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have way more cases than one person should be assigned,” said Renee Amador, legal director with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. “We have the Labor Commissioner’s Office who is passionate about enforcing the law. But if they don’t have the people that can do so, they’re [only] going to be able to do so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the Legislature approved funding to increase the unit by 63 positions, including 14 new hearing officers, by mid-2024. And the agency has since hired more staff. But it’s unclear whether that has resulted in shorter processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Cortese said the agency remains inefficient, and plans to hold committee hearings on the delays in coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been the case over the years at the Labor Commissioner’s. This is not a new problem,” Cortese said. “And that usually means the entire culture of the operation needs to be addressed and revisited and restructured.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated to reflect a potential additional step in the Labor Commissioner’s processing of large wage-theft cases.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Immigrants Win Back Stolen Wages, But Few May Report Violations During Pandemic",
"title": "Immigrants Win Back Stolen Wages, But Few May Report Violations During Pandemic",
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"content": "\u003cp>Before it went out of business last year, Kome Japanese Seafood Buffet in Daly City was a popular spot for families celebrating birthdays and graduations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ping Tam, 29, started working at the Daly City restaurant in 2012, prepping food in the kitchen for the sushi bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his very first paycheck, Tam said, he noticed that his wages only covered eight-hour shifts. But Tam was clocking 10-hour workdays, six days a week, he said. And the \u003ca href=\"http://wagetheftisacrime.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wage theft\u003c/a> went on for several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I was angry, but also felt powerless,” said Tam, an immigrant from Hong Kong, speaking in Cantonese. “Many of us complained to management but nothing would change. They just ignored us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838154\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-11838154\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Ping Tam, 29, testified against his former employers at a hearing at the Labor Commissioner's Office.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1122x1496.jpg 1122w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-840x1120.jpg 840w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-687x916.jpg 687w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-414x552.jpg 414w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-354x472.jpg 354w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ping Tam, 29, testified against his former employers at a hearing at the California Labor Commissioner's Office. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Chinese Progressive Association)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a four-year legal battle, Tam and more than a hundred sushi chefs, servers, dishwashers and other restaurant staff won a multi-million dollar settlement against Kome’s owners. It was announced \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2020/2020-68.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last month\u003c/a> by the California Labor Commissioner's Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, a series of well-known restaurants in the Bay Area, including \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2020/06/04/current-and-former-burma-superstar-employees-win-1-3m-class-action-suit/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Burma Superstar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/La-Taqueria-workers-risky-complaints-over-13040018.php?utm_campaign=twitter-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">La Taqueria\u003c/a>, have settled or received fines for allegedly stealing wages from their workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates and state officials in charge of upholding labor laws worry that vulnerable workers today will be less likely to report mistreatment, because the pandemic has resulted in widespread job insecurity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner's Office opened an investigation and payroll audit at Kome in 2016, after some employees \u003ca href=\"http://wagetheftisacrime.com/Report-Laborlaw-Violation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complained\u003c/a> that the restaurant’s owners were using workers’ tips to pay minimum wage salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a case requires those impacted to cooperate with the labor agency and testify during hearings, said Winnie Kao, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. But workers may be afraid of losing their jobs or facing retaliation from their employers, and some are too scared to proceed, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the most abused workers involve workers who are unfamiliar with the legal system, who are sometimes fearful of government agencies,” said Kao, who represented some of the Kome workers. “There can be language barriers or cultural barriers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tam was one of a handful of Kome workers who were willing to step forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit Chinese Progressive Association helped them organize. The workers passed out flyers outside the restaurant about the violations they said they experienced and garnered attention from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which passed a \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3936648&GUID=22262B66-A541-4EBD-AA22-BF981A0AF44B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">resolution\u003c/a> urging San Franciscans to stop going to Kome until the Labor Commissioner’s citation was resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tam, who moved to the U.S. in 2008 in search of economic opportunities, said he decided to speak up about his experience after his employers retaliated against him and other workers, cutting their hours and even firing one employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Tam testified in person against his former employers at a hearing last year, Kao said he held his ground and inspired others.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Cindy Elias, attorney\"]'You had workers who were brave enough to come forward and file a complaint ... the amount of courage and strength it takes for workers to do that.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was really centered and just matter-of-fact about telling the truth,” said Kao. “Just a really strong, solid leader.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-39.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found\u003c/a> that between 2014 and 2017, dozens of cooks, sushi chefs and dishwashers were paid a fixed amount that didn’t include overtime, even though they typically worked 55 hours per week. California law requires that most hourly workers be paid one and a half times their regular rate when they put in more than eight hours a day or more than 40 hours a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s owners also stole overtime from other staffers, such as servers and busers, and illegally counted the workers’ tips as part of their hourly wage, according to the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, Kome’s owners agreed to pay $2.6 million, mostly in back wages owed to 133 workers. The employers did not admit to any wrongdoing, however, said Cindy Elias, an attorney with the Bureau of Field Enforcement at the Labor Commissioner’s Office, who worked on the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor agency initially issued wage assessments and civil penalties totaling $5.16 million in the summer of 2018, but officials reduced the amount after the employers presented evidence that they had already paid employees some of that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each worker will get on average $14,200. A first check was sent out in August, and a second payment will go out by the end of the year, said Elias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's a huge victory for the unheard voices, the people that are most vulnerable,” she said. “You had workers who were brave enough to come forward and file a complaint. ... I mean the amount of courage and strength it takes for workers to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that all workers in California are protected by labor laws, regardless of their immigration status.[aside label='More Immigration Coverage' tag='immigrants']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant owners named in the settlement are David Leung, Wendy Lai Ip, Gang Zhou, Jun Zheng, Bai Dong Zhang and Tiffany Leung. They did not return a request for comment sent to their attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association said that restaurants who cheat not only harm their employees but also put other law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People should be held to account when wage theft occurs,” said the association’s spokeswoman, Sharokina Shams, in a statement. “Beyond the obvious damage done to the workers involved, there is damage to neighboring businesses as well since they are forced to compete with an operator who is failing to comply with laws.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft costs the state’s workforce a whopping $2 billion in earnings per year, according to a 2017 \u003ca href=\"https://www.epi.org/publication/employers-steal-billions-from-workers-paychecks-each-year/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elias and Kao, with the Asian Law Caucus, worry that with millions of Californians unemployed, low-wage workers who do have jobs will be less willing to cooperate in investigations of abuse or retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's much more difficult for people to report labor law violations because they're very afraid of the consequences and losing their job, especially during this time,” said Elias. “I am sure that’s a consideration that workers are taking into account.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Ping Tam said the fact that he and his co-workers are finally recovering thousands of dollars in wages they were owed sends a message that employers can be held accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This settlement provides a credible signal that if owners exploit their workers, there will be oversight and workers will be compensated,” said Tam, who lives with his mother in a single-room occupancy hotel in San Francisco’s Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I want out of this is to send the message that workers have rights that will be protected, that workers can have a recourse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Advocates say the kind of investigation that led to a multi-million dollar wage theft settlement would be tougher today as more workers fear losing their jobs. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Before it went out of business last year, Kome Japanese Seafood Buffet in Daly City was a popular spot for families celebrating birthdays and graduations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ping Tam, 29, started working at the Daly City restaurant in 2012, prepping food in the kitchen for the sushi bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his very first paycheck, Tam said, he noticed that his wages only covered eight-hour shifts. But Tam was clocking 10-hour workdays, six days a week, he said. And the \u003ca href=\"http://wagetheftisacrime.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wage theft\u003c/a> went on for several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I was angry, but also felt powerless,” said Tam, an immigrant from Hong Kong, speaking in Cantonese. “Many of us complained to management but nothing would change. They just ignored us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838154\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-11838154\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Ping Tam, 29, testified against his former employers at a hearing at the Labor Commissioner's Office.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-1122x1496.jpg 1122w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-840x1120.jpg 840w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-687x916.jpg 687w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-414x552.jpg 414w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200-354x472.jpg 354w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44905_IMG_4096-scaled-e1600230297200.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ping Tam, 29, testified against his former employers at a hearing at the California Labor Commissioner's Office. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Chinese Progressive Association)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a four-year legal battle, Tam and more than a hundred sushi chefs, servers, dishwashers and other restaurant staff won a multi-million dollar settlement against Kome’s owners. It was announced \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2020/2020-68.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last month\u003c/a> by the California Labor Commissioner's Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, a series of well-known restaurants in the Bay Area, including \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2020/06/04/current-and-former-burma-superstar-employees-win-1-3m-class-action-suit/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Burma Superstar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/La-Taqueria-workers-risky-complaints-over-13040018.php?utm_campaign=twitter-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">La Taqueria\u003c/a>, have settled or received fines for allegedly stealing wages from their workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates and state officials in charge of upholding labor laws worry that vulnerable workers today will be less likely to report mistreatment, because the pandemic has resulted in widespread job insecurity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner's Office opened an investigation and payroll audit at Kome in 2016, after some employees \u003ca href=\"http://wagetheftisacrime.com/Report-Laborlaw-Violation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complained\u003c/a> that the restaurant’s owners were using workers’ tips to pay minimum wage salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a case requires those impacted to cooperate with the labor agency and testify during hearings, said Winnie Kao, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. But workers may be afraid of losing their jobs or facing retaliation from their employers, and some are too scared to proceed, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the most abused workers involve workers who are unfamiliar with the legal system, who are sometimes fearful of government agencies,” said Kao, who represented some of the Kome workers. “There can be language barriers or cultural barriers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tam was one of a handful of Kome workers who were willing to step forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit Chinese Progressive Association helped them organize. The workers passed out flyers outside the restaurant about the violations they said they experienced and garnered attention from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which passed a \u003ca href=\"https://sfgov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3936648&GUID=22262B66-A541-4EBD-AA22-BF981A0AF44B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">resolution\u003c/a> urging San Franciscans to stop going to Kome until the Labor Commissioner’s citation was resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tam, who moved to the U.S. in 2008 in search of economic opportunities, said he decided to speak up about his experience after his employers retaliated against him and other workers, cutting their hours and even firing one employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Tam testified in person against his former employers at a hearing last year, Kao said he held his ground and inspired others.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'You had workers who were brave enough to come forward and file a complaint ... the amount of courage and strength it takes for workers to do that.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was really centered and just matter-of-fact about telling the truth,” said Kao. “Just a really strong, solid leader.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-39.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found\u003c/a> that between 2014 and 2017, dozens of cooks, sushi chefs and dishwashers were paid a fixed amount that didn’t include overtime, even though they typically worked 55 hours per week. California law requires that most hourly workers be paid one and a half times their regular rate when they put in more than eight hours a day or more than 40 hours a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s owners also stole overtime from other staffers, such as servers and busers, and illegally counted the workers’ tips as part of their hourly wage, according to the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, Kome’s owners agreed to pay $2.6 million, mostly in back wages owed to 133 workers. The employers did not admit to any wrongdoing, however, said Cindy Elias, an attorney with the Bureau of Field Enforcement at the Labor Commissioner’s Office, who worked on the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor agency initially issued wage assessments and civil penalties totaling $5.16 million in the summer of 2018, but officials reduced the amount after the employers presented evidence that they had already paid employees some of that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each worker will get on average $14,200. A first check was sent out in August, and a second payment will go out by the end of the year, said Elias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's a huge victory for the unheard voices, the people that are most vulnerable,” she said. “You had workers who were brave enough to come forward and file a complaint. ... I mean the amount of courage and strength it takes for workers to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that all workers in California are protected by labor laws, regardless of their immigration status.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant owners named in the settlement are David Leung, Wendy Lai Ip, Gang Zhou, Jun Zheng, Bai Dong Zhang and Tiffany Leung. They did not return a request for comment sent to their attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association said that restaurants who cheat not only harm their employees but also put other law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People should be held to account when wage theft occurs,” said the association’s spokeswoman, Sharokina Shams, in a statement. “Beyond the obvious damage done to the workers involved, there is damage to neighboring businesses as well since they are forced to compete with an operator who is failing to comply with laws.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft costs the state’s workforce a whopping $2 billion in earnings per year, according to a 2017 \u003ca href=\"https://www.epi.org/publication/employers-steal-billions-from-workers-paychecks-each-year/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elias and Kao, with the Asian Law Caucus, worry that with millions of Californians unemployed, low-wage workers who do have jobs will be less willing to cooperate in investigations of abuse or retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's much more difficult for people to report labor law violations because they're very afraid of the consequences and losing their job, especially during this time,” said Elias. “I am sure that’s a consideration that workers are taking into account.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Ping Tam said the fact that he and his co-workers are finally recovering thousands of dollars in wages they were owed sends a message that employers can be held accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This settlement provides a credible signal that if owners exploit their workers, there will be oversight and workers will be compensated,” said Tam, who lives with his mother in a single-room occupancy hotel in San Francisco’s Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I want out of this is to send the message that workers have rights that will be protected, that workers can have a recourse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "'We’re Being Robbed': Wage Theft in California Often Goes Unpunished by State",
"title": "'We’re Being Robbed': Wage Theft in California Often Goes Unpunished by State",
"headTitle": "The California Report | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>In February, when California labor officials announced the biggest wage theft case against a private company in state history, they included a warning for all bosses:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stealing earned wages from workers’ pockets is illegal in California and this case shows that employers who steal from their workers will end up paying for it in the end,” Julie Su, head of the state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency, said in a press release announcing \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nearly $12 million in citations\u003c/a> against RDV Construction, Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RDV has appealed the penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But her message didn’t include a timeline for when RDV will pay; nor do any of the other announcements from the Labor Commissioner's Office about wage theft citations. There’s good reason for this: In many cases, it takes years before workers receive even a portion of the money they’re owed. Sometimes they receive nothing at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Jose Herrera\"]'Once you get to a point where nothing is going your way and you have no money to pay [bills], that’s when it gets to you and you feel like, what am I going to do now?'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a series of worker protection bills, including \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 51\u003c/a>, which bans forced arbitration, a business practice commonly used by employers to prevent workers from suing them for sexual harassment, discrimination or wage theft. Another new law extends the amount of time employees have to file civil rights complaints against their employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re being robbed,” said Georgina Hernandez, a janitorial worker whose former employer was cited for multiple wage violations in 2014 and ordered to pay workers over $1.7 million. Five years later, Hernandez and dozens of other employees haven’t received a dime, according to labor organizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft — a term that covers various types of pay violations — occurs with alarming frequency in California. Many employers, large and small, shortchange their workers by not paying them the minimum wage or required overtime, making improper deductions or refusing to pay them altogether. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, minimum wage violations in California alone occur approximately \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/BOFE_LegReport2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">372,000 times each week\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-income workers (those paid less than $14.35 per hour in 2017), who make up \u003ca href=\"http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/low-wage-work-in-california/#the-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">about a third\u003c/a> of California’s workforce, are especially vulnerable, and can suffer severe hardship when shorted on their pay. Every year, tens of millions of dollars are siphoned from workers like Hernandez, who clean restaurants, pick fruit, wait tables, repair cars, stock warehouses, sew clothes and care for the sick and elderly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Risking retaliation, many workers seek help from the government. In California, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces federal pay rules. But to add muscle to its efforts, the state Labor Commissioner's Office runs a parallel enforcement program. It allows workers to pursue unpaid wages through hearings, where administrative officers award or reject their claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the majority of cases — roughly 80% — employers pay at least a portion of the claim before any judgment can be issued, said Matthew Sirolly, an attorney with the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when workers don’t reach a settlement, they rarely get their money. A landmark study of California wage claims between 2008 and 2011 found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HollowVictories.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just 17% of workers\u003c/a> who won a Labor Commission judgment received even some of their pay. To avoid paying up, many of these employers shuttered their companies or hid assets, leaving workers nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some person of authority — a judge or an administrative hearing officer — says this particular employer has broken the law and owes you money for your wages. But all it means is you get a piece of paper that they don’t have to pay,” said Matthew DeCarolis, an attorney at Bet Tzedek, a nonprofit legal aid firm in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The press releases suggesting victories for underpaid workers do not hint at the years-long struggles that may lie ahead. For this story, FairWarning conducted more than 20 interviews and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents obtained under the California Public Records Act and from court files, to determine the actual outcome of these cases. In some instances, workers ultimately got nothing or, years later, are still waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11780074\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 354px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-11780074\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"354\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Herrera is owed over $200,000 by his former employer, the transportation firm XPO Logistics. Herrera, who is unemployed and fighting cancer, said he’s barely getting by on his social security income. \u003ccite>(Eli Wolfe/FairWarning)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Take the seemingly endless saga of American Airporter Shuttle Inc. In April 2012, a van driver named Bin Wu filed an administrative claim with the Labor Commissioner that accused the San Francisco-based shuttle business of \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DLSE-v.-American-Airporter-Shuttle-Notice-of-Findings-and-Order-5.6.16.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numerous violations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu testified that he usually worked 13-hour days, and that the company asked him to work through meal breaks. He also wasn’t allowed to refuse assignments, but the shuttle firm classified him as an independent contractor, which would exempt them from wage regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to his testimony, Wu didn’t understand his contractor agreement because he received a copy in English, even though he speaks only Mandarin Chinese. Five other drivers subsequently filed similar claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, following an investigation, the Labor Commissioner issued citations to American Airporter and its owner, Phillip Achilles, saying the they illegally misclassified its drivers as contractors. The company appealed, a new hearing was held, and in May 2016 an administrative officer \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2016/2016-53.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">affirmed the citations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happened next highlights the lengths some employers will go to fight citations, and the difficulty of recovering stolen wages through the legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 16, 2016, after the state Labor Commissioner affirmed American Airporter’s citations, the company \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Writ-of-Mandate.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contested the findings\u003c/a> in San Francisco Superior Court. But for the next two years, Achilles did nothing to advance his plea. In court briefs, the Labor Commissioner asserted that he had instead worked secretly to hide his assets. FairWarning was unable to reach Achilles. An attorney who represents the drivers declined to speak on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October 2017, the Labor Commissioner discovered that Achilles was \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Demand-Letter-Fraudulent-Transfer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trying to sell\u003c/a> a building he owned in downtown San Francisco. The state moved to put a lien on his commercial property, allegedly worth over $5 million, but Achilles transferred the building to a shell company, rendering himself insolvent, according to court records. The Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Phillip-Achilles-Complaint-CONFORMED.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sued Achilles\u003c/a> to undo the allegedly fraudulent transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2019, nearly seven years after Bin Wu filed his wage claim, the Labor Commissioner and Achilles finally \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-mediation-discussion.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agreed to sit down\u003c/a> for mediation and, according to court records, \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-case-management-statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hammered out a settlement\u003c/a> in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11780075\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11780075\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg 300w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802-160x284.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hilaria Corral’s former employer, Spirit Airport Services, was cited for wage violations in 2014. The company left California without paying her back wages. \u003ccite>(Photo courtesy of Corral)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it was short-lived: In May, the Labor Commissioner accused Achilles of breaching their agreement. A \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Trial-Date.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trial date\u003c/a> has been set for Dec. 16, but Matthew Sirolly, the Labor Commissioner attorney, said it’s unlikely the case will reach this stage because the agency has asked the court to enforce a sheriff’s sale of Achilles’ real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he noted, the legal system can move at a “glacial” pace, which means an immediate sale of the property is unlikely. Sirolly said the hope is for a sale by early 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in less extreme cases, hurdles for underpaid workers remain high. They need to identify their employer’s bank account or real property, which can be difficult if the information on their pay stubs is missing or incorrect. Some bosses close their companies and reopen under different names. In 50% of cases where the Labor Commissioner found that an employer owed wages, the employer \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HollowVictories.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sold, transferred or abandoned their business\u003c/a> before the judgment was even delivered, according to a joint study by the UCLA Labor Center and National Employment Law Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a structural problem within these industries where it’s really difficult to be able to collect those wages,” said Jennifer Lin, of the employment law project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the Labor Commissioner announced citations over $1.5 million against two janitorial companies in Southern California — NLP Janitorial and Coast to Coast West — for \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2014/2014-42.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failing to pay\u003c/a> their workers minimum wage or overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Georgina Hernandez, one of the former employees, told FairWarning that she worked 12-hour days cleaning movie theaters and restaurants without overtime or breaks. She said she and her coworkers finally went to the Labor Commissioner after her boss laid them off without paying for their last month of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The loss of a month’s pay had life-altering consequences for Hernandez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking through a translator, she explained that she lost her apartment and spent two days sleeping on the street before finding a place to stay. For a while, she said, she couldn’t afford to feed her daughter. Others were in similar straits — at one point, Hernandez shared $10 with a former co-worker who couldn’t afford basic necessities like milk or tortillas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"wage-theft\"]Following the citations, NLP and Coast to Coast negotiated with state labor officials and agreed to pay a settlement to their former workers. But before paying up, both companies shut down and the owners disappeared, according to an organizer with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, an advocacy group for janitorial employees, that assisted the workers with their wage claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner got a court order to stop both companies from operating in California as long as they had unpaid judgments, Sirolly said. But NLP and Coast to Coast escaped the state’s jurisdiction by moving to Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirolly said the office reached out to its counterpart in Texas to enforce the judgments, only to learn that the Texas was struggling to collect its own wage claims against the companies. He added that it’s unlikely payments will ever be made to workers in either state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar thing happened to Southern California custodial worker Hilaria Corral. In 2014, the Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2014/2014-98.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cited her employer\u003c/a>, Spirit Airport Services, for failing to pay overtime and minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corral said she had expected it would take time to get her back wages—perhaps as long as a year. But the company left California without paying anything to Corral, according to an organizer with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I’ve] suffered greatly,” Corral said through a translator, adding that she’s worried something like this will happen to her again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If enforcing wage claims against fly-by-night operators is difficult, it's equally hard against powerful companies with seemingly limitless resources to stall wage theft cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2017, a Los Angeles County truck driver named Jose Herrera \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/XPO-Cartage-DLSE-ODAs-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won an award\u003c/a> of nearly $280,000 from his employer XPO Logistics Inc., a multinational transportation and logistics company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, that reported \u003ca href=\"https://news.xpo.com/en-us/news/1910/xpo-logistics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2018-results/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than $17 billion in revenue\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera had filed a claim in March 2016 with the Labor Commissioner that accused XPO of misclassifying him as an independent contractor. Today, Herrera’s judgment remains just a piece of paper. For the past two years, XPO has fought the judgment in an appeal that is still pending in Long Beach Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>XPO did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie Dickinson, an attorney who has represented XPO workers in a different wage case, said the transportation company’s active wage and hour liability, both from private litigation and state claims, is estimated at over $185 million. With a hefty litigation budget, she said, XPO can fight these battles for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The delays are astronomical,” Dickinson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Herrera’s case, the delay is potentially life threatening. In 2018, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In quick succession, he lost his job and his health insurance. Even though he’s owed more than $200,000, according to court records, Herrera said he has to live on a small social security income that leaves him with about $200 each month after he pays for his housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really bad,” Herrera said. “Now that I’m not working and don’t have any income coming in, it’s hard because I have to watch everything I spend, everything I eat.” In September, a Long Beach Superior Court affirmed the Labor Commissioner’s 2017 decision. XPO is expected to appeal the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manuel Martinez, a driver who works for XPO, spent seven years fighting the company for unpaid wages. After winning a settlement for a confidential sum earlier this year, Martinez visited family in Guatemala, taking his first vacation in five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said he was stunned to find that while he was away, XPO deducted hundreds of dollars for insurance, gas and administrative costs as if he had been working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] felt absolutely frustrated because I had made so little on that paycheck,” Martinez said through a translator. Martinez added that he had to dip into his settlement money to pay for maintenance to his truck, and he fears that he’ll ultimately have to file for bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] thought the company was going to make a change — [I] thought they were going to stop,” he said. “But at this point they’re doing it again, and it feels like XPO’s treatment is a laugh in the face of justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some signs that post-judgment collections are improving in California. Last year, the Bureau of Field Enforcement recovered nearly $10.5 million in unpaid wage judgments — \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/BOFE_LegReport2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than double\u003c/a> the previous year. Tia Koonse, a staff attorney with the UCLA Labor Center, said Julie Su, who served as Labor Commissioner office from 2011 through 2018, improved enforcement by focusing on investigations of California’s underground economy and strengthening partnerships with community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su was tapped earlier this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom to head the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The Labor Commissioner’s Office refused FairWarning's request to interview Lilia Garcia-Brower, Su’s replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent law, SB 588, gives the agency new powers to collect post-judgment money. According to Sirolly, the agency has also started to sue companies to prevent fraudulent transfers and bankruptcies designed to hide their assets. In Los Angeles, a pilot program to help day laborers file a measure known as a mechanics' lien boasts a nearly 100% collection rate, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the parade of news releases from the Labor Commissioner’s Office continues to announce its citations and the big dollars attached: $631,000 against a Daly City residential care facility in July; over$2.36 million against a Culver City car wash in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirolly said the office has done a lot of work to hold these sorts of employers accountable. But this isn’t much comfort to a worker like Jose Herrera, who says he sometimes wakes up in the night wondering if he’ll ever see a nickel of his wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you get to a point where nothing is going your way and you have no money to pay [bills], that’s when it gets to you and you feel like ‘what am I going to do now?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fairwarning.org/2019/10/clawing-back-stolen-wages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This story\u003c/a> was produced by \u003ca href=\"http://www.fairwarning.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FairWarning\u003c/a>, a nonprofit news organization based in Southern California that focuses on public health, consumer, workplace and environmental issues.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In February, when California labor officials announced the biggest wage theft case against a private company in state history, they included a warning for all bosses:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stealing earned wages from workers’ pockets is illegal in California and this case shows that employers who steal from their workers will end up paying for it in the end,” Julie Su, head of the state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency, said in a press release announcing \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nearly $12 million in citations\u003c/a> against RDV Construction, Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RDV has appealed the penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But her message didn’t include a timeline for when RDV will pay; nor do any of the other announcements from the Labor Commissioner's Office about wage theft citations. There’s good reason for this: In many cases, it takes years before workers receive even a portion of the money they’re owed. Sometimes they receive nothing at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a series of worker protection bills, including \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 51\u003c/a>, which bans forced arbitration, a business practice commonly used by employers to prevent workers from suing them for sexual harassment, discrimination or wage theft. Another new law extends the amount of time employees have to file civil rights complaints against their employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re being robbed,” said Georgina Hernandez, a janitorial worker whose former employer was cited for multiple wage violations in 2014 and ordered to pay workers over $1.7 million. Five years later, Hernandez and dozens of other employees haven’t received a dime, according to labor organizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft — a term that covers various types of pay violations — occurs with alarming frequency in California. Many employers, large and small, shortchange their workers by not paying them the minimum wage or required overtime, making improper deductions or refusing to pay them altogether. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, minimum wage violations in California alone occur approximately \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/BOFE_LegReport2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">372,000 times each week\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-income workers (those paid less than $14.35 per hour in 2017), who make up \u003ca href=\"http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/low-wage-work-in-california/#the-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">about a third\u003c/a> of California’s workforce, are especially vulnerable, and can suffer severe hardship when shorted on their pay. Every year, tens of millions of dollars are siphoned from workers like Hernandez, who clean restaurants, pick fruit, wait tables, repair cars, stock warehouses, sew clothes and care for the sick and elderly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Risking retaliation, many workers seek help from the government. In California, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces federal pay rules. But to add muscle to its efforts, the state Labor Commissioner's Office runs a parallel enforcement program. It allows workers to pursue unpaid wages through hearings, where administrative officers award or reject their claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the majority of cases — roughly 80% — employers pay at least a portion of the claim before any judgment can be issued, said Matthew Sirolly, an attorney with the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when workers don’t reach a settlement, they rarely get their money. A landmark study of California wage claims between 2008 and 2011 found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HollowVictories.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just 17% of workers\u003c/a> who won a Labor Commission judgment received even some of their pay. To avoid paying up, many of these employers shuttered their companies or hid assets, leaving workers nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some person of authority — a judge or an administrative hearing officer — says this particular employer has broken the law and owes you money for your wages. But all it means is you get a piece of paper that they don’t have to pay,” said Matthew DeCarolis, an attorney at Bet Tzedek, a nonprofit legal aid firm in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The press releases suggesting victories for underpaid workers do not hint at the years-long struggles that may lie ahead. For this story, FairWarning conducted more than 20 interviews and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents obtained under the California Public Records Act and from court files, to determine the actual outcome of these cases. In some instances, workers ultimately got nothing or, years later, are still waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11780074\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 354px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-11780074\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"354\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Herrera2-e1570561110272-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Herrera is owed over $200,000 by his former employer, the transportation firm XPO Logistics. Herrera, who is unemployed and fighting cancer, said he’s barely getting by on his social security income. \u003ccite>(Eli Wolfe/FairWarning)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Take the seemingly endless saga of American Airporter Shuttle Inc. In April 2012, a van driver named Bin Wu filed an administrative claim with the Labor Commissioner that accused the San Francisco-based shuttle business of \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DLSE-v.-American-Airporter-Shuttle-Notice-of-Findings-and-Order-5.6.16.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numerous violations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu testified that he usually worked 13-hour days, and that the company asked him to work through meal breaks. He also wasn’t allowed to refuse assignments, but the shuttle firm classified him as an independent contractor, which would exempt them from wage regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to his testimony, Wu didn’t understand his contractor agreement because he received a copy in English, even though he speaks only Mandarin Chinese. Five other drivers subsequently filed similar claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, following an investigation, the Labor Commissioner issued citations to American Airporter and its owner, Phillip Achilles, saying the they illegally misclassified its drivers as contractors. The company appealed, a new hearing was held, and in May 2016 an administrative officer \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2016/2016-53.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">affirmed the citations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happened next highlights the lengths some employers will go to fight citations, and the difficulty of recovering stolen wages through the legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 16, 2016, after the state Labor Commissioner affirmed American Airporter’s citations, the company \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Writ-of-Mandate.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contested the findings\u003c/a> in San Francisco Superior Court. But for the next two years, Achilles did nothing to advance his plea. In court briefs, the Labor Commissioner asserted that he had instead worked secretly to hide his assets. FairWarning was unable to reach Achilles. An attorney who represents the drivers declined to speak on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October 2017, the Labor Commissioner discovered that Achilles was \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Demand-Letter-Fraudulent-Transfer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trying to sell\u003c/a> a building he owned in downtown San Francisco. The state moved to put a lien on his commercial property, allegedly worth over $5 million, but Achilles transferred the building to a shell company, rendering himself insolvent, according to court records. The Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Phillip-Achilles-Complaint-CONFORMED.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sued Achilles\u003c/a> to undo the allegedly fraudulent transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2019, nearly seven years after Bin Wu filed his wage claim, the Labor Commissioner and Achilles finally \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-mediation-discussion.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agreed to sit down\u003c/a> for mediation and, according to court records, \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-case-management-statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hammered out a settlement\u003c/a> in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11780075\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11780075\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802.jpg 300w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/10/Hilaria-e1570561014802-160x284.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hilaria Corral’s former employer, Spirit Airport Services, was cited for wage violations in 2014. The company left California without paying her back wages. \u003ccite>(Photo courtesy of Corral)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it was short-lived: In May, the Labor Commissioner accused Achilles of breaching their agreement. A \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Achilles-Trial-Date.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trial date\u003c/a> has been set for Dec. 16, but Matthew Sirolly, the Labor Commissioner attorney, said it’s unlikely the case will reach this stage because the agency has asked the court to enforce a sheriff’s sale of Achilles’ real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he noted, the legal system can move at a “glacial” pace, which means an immediate sale of the property is unlikely. Sirolly said the hope is for a sale by early 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in less extreme cases, hurdles for underpaid workers remain high. They need to identify their employer’s bank account or real property, which can be difficult if the information on their pay stubs is missing or incorrect. Some bosses close their companies and reopen under different names. In 50% of cases where the Labor Commissioner found that an employer owed wages, the employer \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/HollowVictories.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sold, transferred or abandoned their business\u003c/a> before the judgment was even delivered, according to a joint study by the UCLA Labor Center and National Employment Law Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a structural problem within these industries where it’s really difficult to be able to collect those wages,” said Jennifer Lin, of the employment law project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the Labor Commissioner announced citations over $1.5 million against two janitorial companies in Southern California — NLP Janitorial and Coast to Coast West — for \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2014/2014-42.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failing to pay\u003c/a> their workers minimum wage or overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Georgina Hernandez, one of the former employees, told FairWarning that she worked 12-hour days cleaning movie theaters and restaurants without overtime or breaks. She said she and her coworkers finally went to the Labor Commissioner after her boss laid them off without paying for their last month of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The loss of a month’s pay had life-altering consequences for Hernandez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking through a translator, she explained that she lost her apartment and spent two days sleeping on the street before finding a place to stay. For a while, she said, she couldn’t afford to feed her daughter. Others were in similar straits — at one point, Hernandez shared $10 with a former co-worker who couldn’t afford basic necessities like milk or tortillas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Following the citations, NLP and Coast to Coast negotiated with state labor officials and agreed to pay a settlement to their former workers. But before paying up, both companies shut down and the owners disappeared, according to an organizer with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, an advocacy group for janitorial employees, that assisted the workers with their wage claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner got a court order to stop both companies from operating in California as long as they had unpaid judgments, Sirolly said. But NLP and Coast to Coast escaped the state’s jurisdiction by moving to Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirolly said the office reached out to its counterpart in Texas to enforce the judgments, only to learn that the Texas was struggling to collect its own wage claims against the companies. He added that it’s unlikely payments will ever be made to workers in either state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar thing happened to Southern California custodial worker Hilaria Corral. In 2014, the Labor Commissioner \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2014/2014-98.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cited her employer\u003c/a>, Spirit Airport Services, for failing to pay overtime and minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corral said she had expected it would take time to get her back wages—perhaps as long as a year. But the company left California without paying anything to Corral, according to an organizer with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I’ve] suffered greatly,” Corral said through a translator, adding that she’s worried something like this will happen to her again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If enforcing wage claims against fly-by-night operators is difficult, it's equally hard against powerful companies with seemingly limitless resources to stall wage theft cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2017, a Los Angeles County truck driver named Jose Herrera \u003ca href=\"https://qhi7a3oj76cn9awl3qcqrh3o-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/XPO-Cartage-DLSE-ODAs-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">won an award\u003c/a> of nearly $280,000 from his employer XPO Logistics Inc., a multinational transportation and logistics company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, that reported \u003ca href=\"https://news.xpo.com/en-us/news/1910/xpo-logistics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2018-results/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than $17 billion in revenue\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera had filed a claim in March 2016 with the Labor Commissioner that accused XPO of misclassifying him as an independent contractor. Today, Herrera’s judgment remains just a piece of paper. For the past two years, XPO has fought the judgment in an appeal that is still pending in Long Beach Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>XPO did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie Dickinson, an attorney who has represented XPO workers in a different wage case, said the transportation company’s active wage and hour liability, both from private litigation and state claims, is estimated at over $185 million. With a hefty litigation budget, she said, XPO can fight these battles for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The delays are astronomical,” Dickinson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Herrera’s case, the delay is potentially life threatening. In 2018, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In quick succession, he lost his job and his health insurance. Even though he’s owed more than $200,000, according to court records, Herrera said he has to live on a small social security income that leaves him with about $200 each month after he pays for his housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really bad,” Herrera said. “Now that I’m not working and don’t have any income coming in, it’s hard because I have to watch everything I spend, everything I eat.” In September, a Long Beach Superior Court affirmed the Labor Commissioner’s 2017 decision. XPO is expected to appeal the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manuel Martinez, a driver who works for XPO, spent seven years fighting the company for unpaid wages. After winning a settlement for a confidential sum earlier this year, Martinez visited family in Guatemala, taking his first vacation in five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said he was stunned to find that while he was away, XPO deducted hundreds of dollars for insurance, gas and administrative costs as if he had been working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] felt absolutely frustrated because I had made so little on that paycheck,” Martinez said through a translator. Martinez added that he had to dip into his settlement money to pay for maintenance to his truck, and he fears that he’ll ultimately have to file for bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] thought the company was going to make a change — [I] thought they were going to stop,” he said. “But at this point they’re doing it again, and it feels like XPO’s treatment is a laugh in the face of justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some signs that post-judgment collections are improving in California. Last year, the Bureau of Field Enforcement recovered nearly $10.5 million in unpaid wage judgments — \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/BOFE_LegReport2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than double\u003c/a> the previous year. Tia Koonse, a staff attorney with the UCLA Labor Center, said Julie Su, who served as Labor Commissioner office from 2011 through 2018, improved enforcement by focusing on investigations of California’s underground economy and strengthening partnerships with community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su was tapped earlier this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom to head the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The Labor Commissioner’s Office refused FairWarning's request to interview Lilia Garcia-Brower, Su’s replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent law, SB 588, gives the agency new powers to collect post-judgment money. According to Sirolly, the agency has also started to sue companies to prevent fraudulent transfers and bankruptcies designed to hide their assets. In Los Angeles, a pilot program to help day laborers file a measure known as a mechanics' lien boasts a nearly 100% collection rate, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the parade of news releases from the Labor Commissioner’s Office continues to announce its citations and the big dollars attached: $631,000 against a Daly City residential care facility in July; over$2.36 million against a Culver City car wash in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sirolly said the office has done a lot of work to hold these sorts of employers accountable. But this isn’t much comfort to a worker like Jose Herrera, who says he sometimes wakes up in the night wondering if he’ll ever see a nickel of his wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you get to a point where nothing is going your way and you have no money to pay [bills], that’s when it gets to you and you feel like ‘what am I going to do now?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fairwarning.org/2019/10/clawing-back-stolen-wages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This story\u003c/a> was produced by \u003ca href=\"http://www.fairwarning.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FairWarning\u003c/a>, a nonprofit news organization based in Southern California that focuses on public health, consumer, workplace and environmental issues.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Replacement Marriott Workers Say They Weren’t Paid, File Wage Theft Claims",
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"content": "\u003cp>Three housekeepers contracted to replace San Francisco Marriott workers who’ve been on strike for close to two months have told state regulators the company that hired them has neglected to pay them thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The replacement workers have filed claims with the California Labor Commissioner’s office against the Hayward based firm Environmental Service Partners (ESP), alleging that in October the company withheld close to $13,000 in wages and overtime, among other benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Replacement workers are especially vulnerable to workplace abuses,” said Katherine Fiester, a staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Legal Aid at Work, who is not representing the employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The janitorial industry is rampant with wage theft,” Fiester added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 4, more than 2,000 workers represented by Unite Here Local 2 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11698130/san-francisco-marriott-hotel-strike-far-from-resolution\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">walked off the job\u003c/a> at seven Marriott hotels in San Francisco, calling for better wages and job protections, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several similar Unite Here strikes also took place in San Jose, Oakland and several other cities around the country. While many local unions have ended their strikes, Local 2 in San Francisco has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11702796/marriott-ceo-slams-hotel-workers-union-refuses-to-attend-s-f-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marriott says\u003c/a> the workers are well-compensated and has emphasized that its hotels are still operating well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To replace workers at its San Francisco hotels, Marriott contracted with ESP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early November, several of those substitute workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Temporary-workers-at-striking-SF-Marriott-hotel-13352971.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a> they were not being paid for several days’ worth of work. One of them later \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Marriott-hotel-temp-says-she-was-fired-after-13359018.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the newspaper she was fired\u003c/a> after speaking out about the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, three housekeepers have filed wage theft claims with the commissioner’s office. Those claims, obtained by KQED, allege ESP did not pay workers the $17 per hour wages they were owed on multiple occasions, neglected to pay overtime and in at least one case, failed to compensate a worker for money he was owed after he quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11703249/striking-hotel-workers-vent-during-special-board-meeting-at-san-francisco-city-hall\">Striking Hotel Workers Detail Hardships During Special Board Meeting at S.F. City Hall\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11703249/striking-hotel-workers-vent-during-special-board-meeting-at-san-francisco-city-hall\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/mariott-strike-city-hall-0504-2-1038x576.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Efforts to reach the three workers were unsuccessful. ESP has not responded to several requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Marriott representative emphasized the hotel chain’s contractors abide by the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marriott’s vendor contracts, including its contract with Environmental Services Partners, provide that vendors must comply with federal and state employment laws,” said company spokesman Hunter Hardinge in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage theft cases are part of a pattern, according to the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are disappointed but unsurprised to learn of yet another alleged instance of labor violations at a Marriott hotel under strike,” said Unite Here press secretary Rachel Gumpert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marriott is failing to behave as the industry leader it claims to be, and after separate allegations in multiple struck hotels, it’s clear that Marriott needs to audit its contractors and ensure that temporary workers are not being exploited,” Gumpert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage theft claims are set to be the subject of a settlement conference involving the workers, ESP and the state labor commissioner’s office on Dec. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal is to have both parties try to reach an agreement to resolve the wage claim,” said Paola Laverde, a spokeswoman for the Department of Industrial Relations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While ESP is named in the claims, Marriott could also be held liable for wage violations, according to Fiester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Marriott is benefiting from the fact that Environmental Service Partners are providing these services, there’s a sense that Marriott has an obligation to ensure that these workers are being paid correctly,” Fiester said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NOTE: KQED has decided not to identify the workers who’ve filed wage theft claims in this story because of previous reports indicating they could be at risk of retaliation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Three housekeepers contracted to replace San Francisco Marriott workers who’ve been on strike for close to two months have told state regulators the company that hired them has neglected to pay them thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The replacement workers have filed claims with the California Labor Commissioner’s office against the Hayward based firm Environmental Service Partners (ESP), alleging that in October the company withheld close to $13,000 in wages and overtime, among other benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Replacement workers are especially vulnerable to workplace abuses,” said Katherine Fiester, a staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Legal Aid at Work, who is not representing the employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The janitorial industry is rampant with wage theft,” Fiester added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 4, more than 2,000 workers represented by Unite Here Local 2 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11698130/san-francisco-marriott-hotel-strike-far-from-resolution\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">walked off the job\u003c/a> at seven Marriott hotels in San Francisco, calling for better wages and job protections, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several similar Unite Here strikes also took place in San Jose, Oakland and several other cities around the country. While many local unions have ended their strikes, Local 2 in San Francisco has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11702796/marriott-ceo-slams-hotel-workers-union-refuses-to-attend-s-f-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marriott says\u003c/a> the workers are well-compensated and has emphasized that its hotels are still operating well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To replace workers at its San Francisco hotels, Marriott contracted with ESP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early November, several of those substitute workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Temporary-workers-at-striking-SF-Marriott-hotel-13352971.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/a> they were not being paid for several days’ worth of work. One of them later \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Marriott-hotel-temp-says-she-was-fired-after-13359018.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the newspaper she was fired\u003c/a> after speaking out about the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, three housekeepers have filed wage theft claims with the commissioner’s office. Those claims, obtained by KQED, allege ESP did not pay workers the $17 per hour wages they were owed on multiple occasions, neglected to pay overtime and in at least one case, failed to compensate a worker for money he was owed after he quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11703249/striking-hotel-workers-vent-during-special-board-meeting-at-san-francisco-city-hall\">Striking Hotel Workers Detail Hardships During Special Board Meeting at S.F. City Hall\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11703249/striking-hotel-workers-vent-during-special-board-meeting-at-san-francisco-city-hall\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/mariott-strike-city-hall-0504-2-1038x576.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Efforts to reach the three workers were unsuccessful. ESP has not responded to several requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Marriott representative emphasized the hotel chain’s contractors abide by the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marriott’s vendor contracts, including its contract with Environmental Services Partners, provide that vendors must comply with federal and state employment laws,” said company spokesman Hunter Hardinge in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage theft cases are part of a pattern, according to the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are disappointed but unsurprised to learn of yet another alleged instance of labor violations at a Marriott hotel under strike,” said Unite Here press secretary Rachel Gumpert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marriott is failing to behave as the industry leader it claims to be, and after separate allegations in multiple struck hotels, it’s clear that Marriott needs to audit its contractors and ensure that temporary workers are not being exploited,” Gumpert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage theft claims are set to be the subject of a settlement conference involving the workers, ESP and the state labor commissioner’s office on Dec. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal is to have both parties try to reach an agreement to resolve the wage claim,” said Paola Laverde, a spokeswoman for the Department of Industrial Relations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While ESP is named in the claims, Marriott could also be held liable for wage violations, according to Fiester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Marriott is benefiting from the fact that Environmental Service Partners are providing these services, there’s a sense that Marriott has an obligation to ensure that these workers are being paid correctly,” Fiester said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NOTE: KQED has decided not to identify the workers who’ve filed wage theft claims in this story because of previous reports indicating they could be at risk of retaliation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Cómo Un Grupo de Preparadores de Dim Sum Ganó $4 Millones por Salarios Atrasados",
"title": "Cómo Un Grupo de Preparadores de Dim Sum Ganó $4 Millones por Salarios Atrasados",
"headTitle": "Immigrant Shift: The Changing California Workforce | The California Report | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/23/how-a-group-of-dim-sum-makers-won-4-million-in-back-pay\">Leer en Inglés\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El restaurante Yank Sing, en un brillante rascacielos en el centro de San Francisco, con un dramático chorro de agua que va del piso al techo y almidonados manteles blancos, destacaba entre los demás restaurantes chinos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ésta es una de las razones por las que este otoño causó consternación entre los comensales y el público el anuncio que los trabajadores por hora de Yank Sing habían sido víctimas por muchos años del robo salarial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518\" params=\"color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El robo salarial es cuando los empleadores obligan a sus empleados a trabajar sin cobrar o no les pagan las horas extra. Los defensores de trabajadores dicen que el robo de salarios es un problema enorme y que no se reporta con frecuencia. Esto es parte de lo que hizo tan excepcional el caso de Yank Sing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En conjunto, los gerentes y los empleados anunciaron en noviembre que unos 100 [[ó 280 actuales y antiguos? TK]] trabajadores de Yank Sing habían ganado una compensación de $4 millones, la mayor compensación de su clase. Desde la perspectiva de los defensores de trabajadores, el caso terminó bien. Pero llegar a esta solución no fue nada fácil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"ZMZLDjMGjL9OSzbM07tcLXOC6t6SEAUP\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Detrás del telón, un núcleo fundamental de trabajadores inmigrantes de sueldo reducido y poco inglés, libró una campaña tenaz que duró casi año y medio. Corrían peligro que su activismo llevara a que los despidieran, y de a pocos organizaron a sus colegas, quienes a su vez tenían muchas razones por las que no participar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li Xiu Zhen era una de los líderes de la campaña de trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li es un inmigrante de 61 años, del sur de la China, cuna del dim sum. Sus días laborales los pasa friendo bolitas de ajonjolí, envolviendo los won ton y pelando camarones. Ha estado preparando dim sum en el Yank Sing durante seis años, y gana un poco más que el salario mínimo. Durante la mayor parte de estos años, típicamente trabajaba de 11 a 12 horas al día. Y hasta hace poco, su sueldo indicaba que había trabajado sólo ocho horas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ésta es una de las infracciones laborales que la Comisión Laboral de California encontró en su investigación de Yank Sing. Abogado David Balter explica que la Comisión encontró que los gerentes se quedaban con las propinas y que se estaba obligando a las personas a trabajar horas extra sin cobrar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612959\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612959\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Li Xiu Zhen, cocinera de frituras en el Yank Sing, es una de los líderes organizadores de una campaña en defensa de los derechos laborales en el restaurante.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Li Xiu Zhen, cocinera de frituras en el Yank Sing, es una de los líderes organizadores de una campaña en defensa de los derechos laborales en el restaurante. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Hay que pagar a las personas”, dijo Balter. “Eso es bastante obvio. Hay que pagar a las personas por las horas que trabajan”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los defensores de la fuerza laboral comentan que cunde el robo salarial y que ocurre en muchas industrias. Haeyoung Yoon, con el National Employment Law Project, indica que tres de cada cuatro trabajadores de sueldo reducido en los EE.UU. no recibieron el pago correcto para las horas extra en el 2008. Dice que el problema es epidémico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nosotros decimos que es una de las tendencias definitivas del mercado laboral del siglo XXI”, explica Yoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Los defensores dicen que los trabajadores que se encuentran en esta situación con frecuencia se mantienen con la cabeza gacha.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>No todos creen que el robo salarial es un gran problema. Janna Haynes es la vocera de la California Restaurant Association, la cual representa a propietarios de restaurantes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No me parece que se dé ampliamente el robo de salarios”, dijo Haynes. “Me parece que hay algunos incidentes aislados. No me gusta. A la California Restaurant Association no le gusta, y no toleramos ese comportamiento de los empleadores”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No obstante, en San Francisco, la mitad de los trabajadores de restaurantes en Chinatown dijo que se le paga menos del salario mínimo en el 2010, según una encuesta realizada por la Chinese Progressive Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los defensores dicen que los trabajadores que se encuentran en esta situación con frecuencia se mantienen con la cabeza gacha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Al principio, a Li le preocupaba que le despidieran si se quejaba. Pero sintió la frustración de sus colegas. Ella no habla nada de inglés, pero decidió que era hora de levantar la voz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En un empleo anterior, Li había ganado salario atrasado del restaurante. Pensó que también se podría lograr en Yank Sing. Sus colegas estaban nerviosos y Li se convirtió en una de los organizadores para darles la confianza necesaria para unirse a la campaña.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612965\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612965\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Cocineros de preparación trabajan en la cocina del Yank Sing.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cocineros de preparación trabajan en la cocina del Yank Sing. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Después del trabajo, íbamos a sus casas, para hablar abiertamente, cara a cara”, cuenta Li. “A veces nos quedábamos hasta las 11 o la medianoche”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iban generando impulso con las reuniones de noche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y, notablemente, la gerencia de Yank Sing estaba dispuesta a escuchar cuando se presentaron los trabajadores con su queja. El restaurante es un negocio familiar cuyos propietarios son Henry y Judy Chan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yo creo que a nuestros propietarios les chocó sinceramente cuando supieron y fueron concientes de lo que ocurría”, dijo el director de operaciones del restaurante, Jonathan Glick. Glick se unió al equipo gerencial una vez que los propietarios aprendieron del problema. Explica que los propietarios han reemplazado a tres cuartas partes del equipo gerencial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Después de una serie de negociaciones durante año y medio, los Chan concordaron en pagar cuatro años de sueldo atrasado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los trabajadores ahora tienen refrigerios rutinarios, y utilizan hojas para llevar la cuenta de las horas que trabajan. Y tienen seguro médico, todo pagado. Li dice que ahora sí puede salir del trabajo con tiempo para disfrutar de cosas sencillas, como hacer la compra para cocinar la comida de la tarde para su familia. Dice que la diferencia es tremenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Claro que las cosas están mucho más relajadas, mucho más alegres, ahora”, comentó Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoon, del National Employment Law Project, dice que la victoria en el restaurante Yank Sing es parte de un movimiento que ha estado creciendo a nivel nacional durante los últimos dos años.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Los trabajadores de la comida al paso, de comercios minoristas, de restaurantes, trabajadores domésticos se están presentando para exigir mejor salario, mejores condiciones laborales”, explica Yoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612968\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612968\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Trabajadores y defensores laborales marchan por salarios más altos y mejores condiciones laborales en la estación de BART de la 16 con Mission, el 21 de enero del 2015.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trabajadores y defensores laborales marchan por salarios más altos y mejores condiciones laborales en la estación de BART de la 16 con Mission, el 21 de enero del 2015. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shaw San Liu trabaja en la Chinese Progressive Association, con sede en San Francisco. Durante la campaña, su organización y la Asian Law Caucus ayudaron a los trabajadores de Yank Sing con explicarles sus derechos, con organizarse como grupo y para presentar sus peticiones a la gerencia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu dice que le da orgullo ver los beneficios que han ganado estos trabajadores inmigrantes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Todas estas cosas, casi no se oyen, casi no ocurren en esta industria”, dice Liu. “Nos parece que hemos sentado un precedente para otros restaurantes”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahora Li, la que prepara el dim sum, espera que Yank Sing se convierta en ejemplo para otros que quieran emprender la batalla contra el robo de salarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Esperemos que todos organicen a más personas, que estén mejor informados para poder recibir el pago que nosotros recibimos y tener mejores vidas”, comenta Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ella dice que la campaña la transformó. Ella aprendió que podía sentarse en la mesa de negociaciones con los gerentes, cuando antes le daba nervios sólo hablar con ellos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y se mantiene activa abogando por los derechos de los trabajadores, con ayudar a organizar a trabajadores en otros restaurantes para que levanten la voz contra el abuso.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California tiene la séptima economía más grande del mundo, y a lo largo de la historia del estado, los inmigrantes han contribuido mucho al desarrollo de esta prosperidad. Hoy, una de cada tres personas trabajadoras en California es inmigrante – proporción que ha crecido en las últimas décadas. Nuestro estado está conformado por estos trabajadores y emprendedores – 6 millones de personas que han encontrado empleo en el Estado Dorado. En nuestra serie “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/california-immigrants-at-work\">Transformación migrante,\u003c/a>” KQED y The California Report exploran el impacto que surten los inmigrantes, los retos que enfrentan y las políticas que les afectan.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Trabajadores inmigrantes en un restaurante chino en San Francisco denunciaron a su empleador por robo salarial.",
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"title": "Cómo Un Grupo de Preparadores de Dim Sum Ganó $4 Millones por Salarios Atrasados | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/23/how-a-group-of-dim-sum-makers-won-4-million-in-back-pay\">Leer en Inglés\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El restaurante Yank Sing, en un brillante rascacielos en el centro de San Francisco, con un dramático chorro de agua que va del piso al techo y almidonados manteles blancos, destacaba entre los demás restaurantes chinos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ésta es una de las razones por las que este otoño causó consternación entre los comensales y el público el anuncio que los trabajadores por hora de Yank Sing habían sido víctimas por muchos años del robo salarial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='100%' height='166'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518&visual=true&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false'\n title='https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El robo salarial es cuando los empleadores obligan a sus empleados a trabajar sin cobrar o no les pagan las horas extra. Los defensores de trabajadores dicen que el robo de salarios es un problema enorme y que no se reporta con frecuencia. Esto es parte de lo que hizo tan excepcional el caso de Yank Sing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En conjunto, los gerentes y los empleados anunciaron en noviembre que unos 100 [[ó 280 actuales y antiguos? TK]] trabajadores de Yank Sing habían ganado una compensación de $4 millones, la mayor compensación de su clase. Desde la perspectiva de los defensores de trabajadores, el caso terminó bien. Pero llegar a esta solución no fue nada fácil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Detrás del telón, un núcleo fundamental de trabajadores inmigrantes de sueldo reducido y poco inglés, libró una campaña tenaz que duró casi año y medio. Corrían peligro que su activismo llevara a que los despidieran, y de a pocos organizaron a sus colegas, quienes a su vez tenían muchas razones por las que no participar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li Xiu Zhen era una de los líderes de la campaña de trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li es un inmigrante de 61 años, del sur de la China, cuna del dim sum. Sus días laborales los pasa friendo bolitas de ajonjolí, envolviendo los won ton y pelando camarones. Ha estado preparando dim sum en el Yank Sing durante seis años, y gana un poco más que el salario mínimo. Durante la mayor parte de estos años, típicamente trabajaba de 11 a 12 horas al día. Y hasta hace poco, su sueldo indicaba que había trabajado sólo ocho horas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ésta es una de las infracciones laborales que la Comisión Laboral de California encontró en su investigación de Yank Sing. Abogado David Balter explica que la Comisión encontró que los gerentes se quedaban con las propinas y que se estaba obligando a las personas a trabajar horas extra sin cobrar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612959\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612959\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Li Xiu Zhen, cocinera de frituras en el Yank Sing, es una de los líderes organizadores de una campaña en defensa de los derechos laborales en el restaurante.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingWorker-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Li Xiu Zhen, cocinera de frituras en el Yank Sing, es una de los líderes organizadores de una campaña en defensa de los derechos laborales en el restaurante. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Hay que pagar a las personas”, dijo Balter. “Eso es bastante obvio. Hay que pagar a las personas por las horas que trabajan”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los defensores de la fuerza laboral comentan que cunde el robo salarial y que ocurre en muchas industrias. Haeyoung Yoon, con el National Employment Law Project, indica que tres de cada cuatro trabajadores de sueldo reducido en los EE.UU. no recibieron el pago correcto para las horas extra en el 2008. Dice que el problema es epidémico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nosotros decimos que es una de las tendencias definitivas del mercado laboral del siglo XXI”, explica Yoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Los defensores dicen que los trabajadores que se encuentran en esta situación con frecuencia se mantienen con la cabeza gacha.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>No todos creen que el robo salarial es un gran problema. Janna Haynes es la vocera de la California Restaurant Association, la cual representa a propietarios de restaurantes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No me parece que se dé ampliamente el robo de salarios”, dijo Haynes. “Me parece que hay algunos incidentes aislados. No me gusta. A la California Restaurant Association no le gusta, y no toleramos ese comportamiento de los empleadores”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No obstante, en San Francisco, la mitad de los trabajadores de restaurantes en Chinatown dijo que se le paga menos del salario mínimo en el 2010, según una encuesta realizada por la Chinese Progressive Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los defensores dicen que los trabajadores que se encuentran en esta situación con frecuencia se mantienen con la cabeza gacha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Al principio, a Li le preocupaba que le despidieran si se quejaba. Pero sintió la frustración de sus colegas. Ella no habla nada de inglés, pero decidió que era hora de levantar la voz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En un empleo anterior, Li había ganado salario atrasado del restaurante. Pensó que también se podría lograr en Yank Sing. Sus colegas estaban nerviosos y Li se convirtió en una de los organizadores para darles la confianza necesaria para unirse a la campaña.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612965\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612965\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Cocineros de preparación trabajan en la cocina del Yank Sing.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/YankSingMeat-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cocineros de preparación trabajan en la cocina del Yank Sing. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Después del trabajo, íbamos a sus casas, para hablar abiertamente, cara a cara”, cuenta Li. “A veces nos quedábamos hasta las 11 o la medianoche”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iban generando impulso con las reuniones de noche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y, notablemente, la gerencia de Yank Sing estaba dispuesta a escuchar cuando se presentaron los trabajadores con su queja. El restaurante es un negocio familiar cuyos propietarios son Henry y Judy Chan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yo creo que a nuestros propietarios les chocó sinceramente cuando supieron y fueron concientes de lo que ocurría”, dijo el director de operaciones del restaurante, Jonathan Glick. Glick se unió al equipo gerencial una vez que los propietarios aprendieron del problema. Explica que los propietarios han reemplazado a tres cuartas partes del equipo gerencial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Después de una serie de negociaciones durante año y medio, los Chan concordaron en pagar cuatro años de sueldo atrasado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los trabajadores ahora tienen refrigerios rutinarios, y utilizan hojas para llevar la cuenta de las horas que trabajan. Y tienen seguro médico, todo pagado. Li dice que ahora sí puede salir del trabajo con tiempo para disfrutar de cosas sencillas, como hacer la compra para cocinar la comida de la tarde para su familia. Dice que la diferencia es tremenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Claro que las cosas están mucho más relajadas, mucho más alegres, ahora”, comentó Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoon, del National Employment Law Project, dice que la victoria en el restaurante Yank Sing es parte de un movimiento que ha estado creciendo a nivel nacional durante los últimos dos años.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Los trabajadores de la comida al paso, de comercios minoristas, de restaurantes, trabajadores domésticos se están presentando para exigir mejor salario, mejores condiciones laborales”, explica Yoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10612968\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10612968\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Trabajadores y defensores laborales marchan por salarios más altos y mejores condiciones laborales en la estación de BART de la 16 con Mission, el 21 de enero del 2015.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/Protest-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trabajadores y defensores laborales marchan por salarios más altos y mejores condiciones laborales en la estación de BART de la 16 con Mission, el 21 de enero del 2015. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shaw San Liu trabaja en la Chinese Progressive Association, con sede en San Francisco. Durante la campaña, su organización y la Asian Law Caucus ayudaron a los trabajadores de Yank Sing con explicarles sus derechos, con organizarse como grupo y para presentar sus peticiones a la gerencia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu dice que le da orgullo ver los beneficios que han ganado estos trabajadores inmigrantes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Todas estas cosas, casi no se oyen, casi no ocurren en esta industria”, dice Liu. “Nos parece que hemos sentado un precedente para otros restaurantes”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahora Li, la que prepara el dim sum, espera que Yank Sing se convierta en ejemplo para otros que quieran emprender la batalla contra el robo de salarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Esperemos que todos organicen a más personas, que estén mejor informados para poder recibir el pago que nosotros recibimos y tener mejores vidas”, comenta Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ella dice que la campaña la transformó. Ella aprendió que podía sentarse en la mesa de negociaciones con los gerentes, cuando antes le daba nervios sólo hablar con ellos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y se mantiene activa abogando por los derechos de los trabajadores, con ayudar a organizar a trabajadores en otros restaurantes para que levanten la voz contra el abuso.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California tiene la séptima economía más grande del mundo, y a lo largo de la historia del estado, los inmigrantes han contribuido mucho al desarrollo de esta prosperidad. Hoy, una de cada tres personas trabajadoras en California es inmigrante – proporción que ha crecido en las últimas décadas. Nuestro estado está conformado por estos trabajadores y emprendedores – 6 millones de personas que han encontrado empleo en el Estado Dorado. En nuestra serie “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/california-immigrants-at-work\">Transformación migrante,\u003c/a>” KQED y The California Report exploran el impacto que surten los inmigrantes, los retos que enfrentan y las políticas que les afectan.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "How a Group of Dim Sum Makers Won $4 Million in Back Pay",
"title": "How a Group of Dim Sum Makers Won $4 Million in Back Pay",
"headTitle": "Immigrant Shift: The Changing California Workforce | The California Report | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/23/como-un-grupo-de-preparadores-de-dim-sum-gano-4-millones-por-salarios-atrasados\">Read this piece in Spanish\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yank Sing’s location in a shiny downtown San Francisco high-rise, its dramatic ceiling-to-floor water fountain and its crisp white tablecloths set it apart from other Chinese restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one reason the announcement last fall seemed so jarring to patrons and the public: hourly workers at \u003ca href=\"http://www.yanksing.com/home.php\" target=\"_blank\">Yank Sing\u003c/a> were longtime victims of wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518\" params=\"color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft occurs when employers force employees to work off the clock or don’t pay them for overtime. Labor advocates say wage theft is a huge problem and it goes underreported. That’s part of what made the \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-restaurant-wage-theft-20141119-story.html#page=1\" target=\"_blank\">Yank Sing case\u003c/a> so exceptional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers and employees announced together in November that roughly 280 current and former Yank Sing workers had won a $4 million settlement. It was one of the biggest of its kind. The way labor advocates see it, the case ended well. But it wasn’t easy to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"ezEIVfpakEUm0GPwb8fjg2blXqXm3SiG\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind the scenes, a core group of low-wage immigrant workers who speak little English waged a dogged campaign for almost a year and a half. They feared that their activism might get them fired, but gradually they organized fellow workers who had plenty of reasons to back down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li Xiu Zhen was one of the leaders of the worker campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li is a 61-year-old immigrant from southern China, the birthplace of dim sum. Her workdays are spent frying sesame balls, wrapping wontons and peeling shrimp. She’s been making dim sum at Yank Sing for six years, and she earns a little more than minimum wage. For most of those years, she typically put in 11- or 12-hour days. But until recently, her paycheck would show that she’d worked only eight hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is one of the labor violations that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/\">California Labor Commissioner's office\u003c/a> found in its investigation of Yank Sing. Attorney David Balter said the agency found that tips were being taken by managers and people were being forced to work off the clock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608902\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10608902 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Yank Sing fry cook Li Xiu Zhen is one of the lead organizers of a workers rights campaign at the restaurant.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yank Sing fry cook Li Xiu Zhen was one of the lead organizers of a workers rights campaign at the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People need to be paid,” Balter said. “That’s pretty obvious. People need to be paid for hours they’re working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates say wage theft is rampant and cuts across many industries. Haeyoung Yoon, with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nelp.org/\" target=\"_blank\">National Employment Law Project\u003c/a>, said three out of four low-wage workers in the U.S. weren’t properly paid for overtime in 2008. She called the problem epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We say this is one of the defining trends of the 21st century labor market,” Yoon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone agrees that wage theft is a huge problem. Janna Haynes is a spokeswoman for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calrest.org/\" target=\"_blank\">California Restaurant Association\u003c/a>, which represents restaurant owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Advocates say workers in this situation often just keep their heads down.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I do not think that wage theft is widespread,” Haynes said. “I think there are some isolated incidents of it. I don’t like it. The California Restaurant Association doesn’t like it, and we don’t have any tolerance for that behavior from employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet in San Francisco, half of restaurant workers in Chinatown said they were being paid less than the minimum wage in 2010, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/content/check-please-1-out-2-workers-making-below-minimum-wage\" target=\"_blank\">survey by the Chinese Progressive Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say workers in this situation often just keep their heads down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Li had worried she might be fired if she complained. But she knew her co-workers were increasingly frustrated over how they were treated at Yank Sing. She doesn’t speak any English, but she decided it was time to speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an earlier restaurant job, she had won back pay. She thought it could also be done at Yank Sing. Her co-workers were nervous. So Li became one of the organizers who gave them the confidence to join the campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10608900 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Prep chefs work in the kitchen at Yank Sing.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prep chefs work in the kitchen at Yank Sing. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“After work, we would go to their homes, and talk openly one on one,” Li said. “Sometimes we’d be there until 11 or 12 at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those late-night meetings built momentum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And remarkably, Yank Sing’s management was willing to listen when the workers came forward with their complaint. The restaurant is a family business owned by Henry and Judy Chan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think our ownership was genuinely shocked when they found out and were made aware of these issues,” said the restaurant’s director of operations, Jonathan Glick. He joined the management team after the owners learned of the problem. He said the Chans have replaced three-fourths of the old management team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After negotiations over a year and a half, the Chans \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/press/settlement-yanksing\" target=\"_blank\">agreed to pay four years worth of back wages\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers now get proper breaks, and use timesheets to track their hours. And they have fully paid health insurance. Li says she can now leave work in time to enjoy simple things, like buying groceries to cook her family’s evening meal. She says it’s made a huge difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, things are much more relaxed, much happier now,” said Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoon at the National Employment Law Project says the Yank Sing victory is part of a movement that’s been growing nationally over the past couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fast-food workers, retail workers, restaurant workers, domestic workers (are) really coming forward to demand better wages, better working conditions,” Yoon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10559244\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10559244 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Workers and labor advocates rally for higher pay and better working conditions at the 16th and Mission BART station, Jan. 21, 2015.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers and labor advocates rally for higher pay and better working conditions at the 16th and Mission BART Station on Jan. 21, 2015. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shaw San Liu is with the San Francisco-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/about\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese Progressive Association\u003c/a>. Throughout the campaign, her organization and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.asianlawcaucus.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Asian Law Caucus\u003c/a> helped the Yank Sing workers understand their rights, organize as a group and take their requests to management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu said she’s proud to see what benefits these immigrant workers have won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these things, they’re pretty unheard of, to happen in this industry,\" Liu said. \"We think it sets a precedent for other restaurants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Li, the dim sum cook, hopes Yank Sing will be an example to others to take up the fight against wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully everyone will organize more people, and be better informed so they can get our kind of pay and have better lives,” Li said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the campaign changed her. She learned she could sit at a negotiating table with managers who she was once nervous just to talk to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s keeping up her fight for workers rights, by helping organize workers at other restaurants to speak up against abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Note: This article has been changed to reflect the fact that the state agency that enforces labor laws is the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Industrial Relations. We regret the error.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>California has the seventh-largest economy in the world, and immigrants have a long history in building that prosperity. Today one out of every three working people in California is an immigrant — a share that has grown in recent decades. Our state is shaped by these workers and entrepreneurs — 6 million people who’ve found a job in the Golden State. In our series “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/california-immigrants-at-work\">Immigrant Shift\u003c/a>,” KQED and The California Report explore the impact they have, the challenges they face and the policies that affect them.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/23/como-un-grupo-de-preparadores-de-dim-sum-gano-4-millones-por-salarios-atrasados\">Read this piece in Spanish\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yank Sing’s location in a shiny downtown San Francisco high-rise, its dramatic ceiling-to-floor water fountain and its crisp white tablecloths set it apart from other Chinese restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one reason the announcement last fall seemed so jarring to patrons and the public: hourly workers at \u003ca href=\"http://www.yanksing.com/home.php\" target=\"_blank\">Yank Sing\u003c/a> were longtime victims of wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='100%' height='166'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518&visual=true&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false'\n title='https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216015518'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wage theft occurs when employers force employees to work off the clock or don’t pay them for overtime. Labor advocates say wage theft is a huge problem and it goes underreported. That’s part of what made the \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-restaurant-wage-theft-20141119-story.html#page=1\" target=\"_blank\">Yank Sing case\u003c/a> so exceptional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers and employees announced together in November that roughly 280 current and former Yank Sing workers had won a $4 million settlement. It was one of the biggest of its kind. The way labor advocates see it, the case ended well. But it wasn’t easy to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind the scenes, a core group of low-wage immigrant workers who speak little English waged a dogged campaign for almost a year and a half. They feared that their activism might get them fired, but gradually they organized fellow workers who had plenty of reasons to back down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li Xiu Zhen was one of the leaders of the worker campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li is a 61-year-old immigrant from southern China, the birthplace of dim sum. Her workdays are spent frying sesame balls, wrapping wontons and peeling shrimp. She’s been making dim sum at Yank Sing for six years, and she earns a little more than minimum wage. For most of those years, she typically put in 11- or 12-hour days. But until recently, her paycheck would show that she’d worked only eight hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is one of the labor violations that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/\">California Labor Commissioner's office\u003c/a> found in its investigation of Yank Sing. Attorney David Balter said the agency found that tips were being taken by managers and people were being forced to work off the clock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608902\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10608902 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Yank Sing fry cook Li Xiu Zhen is one of the lead organizers of a workers rights campaign at the restaurant.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14860_IMG_0348.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yank Sing fry cook Li Xiu Zhen was one of the lead organizers of a workers rights campaign at the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“People need to be paid,” Balter said. “That’s pretty obvious. People need to be paid for hours they’re working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates say wage theft is rampant and cuts across many industries. Haeyoung Yoon, with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nelp.org/\" target=\"_blank\">National Employment Law Project\u003c/a>, said three out of four low-wage workers in the U.S. weren’t properly paid for overtime in 2008. She called the problem epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We say this is one of the defining trends of the 21st century labor market,” Yoon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone agrees that wage theft is a huge problem. Janna Haynes is a spokeswoman for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calrest.org/\" target=\"_blank\">California Restaurant Association\u003c/a>, which represents restaurant owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Advocates say workers in this situation often just keep their heads down.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“I do not think that wage theft is widespread,” Haynes said. “I think there are some isolated incidents of it. I don’t like it. The California Restaurant Association doesn’t like it, and we don’t have any tolerance for that behavior from employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet in San Francisco, half of restaurant workers in Chinatown said they were being paid less than the minimum wage in 2010, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/content/check-please-1-out-2-workers-making-below-minimum-wage\" target=\"_blank\">survey by the Chinese Progressive Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say workers in this situation often just keep their heads down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Li had worried she might be fired if she complained. But she knew her co-workers were increasingly frustrated over how they were treated at Yank Sing. She doesn’t speak any English, but she decided it was time to speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an earlier restaurant job, she had won back pay. She thought it could also be done at Yank Sing. Her co-workers were nervous. So Li became one of the organizers who gave them the confidence to join the campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10608900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10608900 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Prep chefs work in the kitchen at Yank Sing.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RS14857_IMG_0439.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prep chefs work in the kitchen at Yank Sing. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“After work, we would go to their homes, and talk openly one on one,” Li said. “Sometimes we’d be there until 11 or 12 at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those late-night meetings built momentum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And remarkably, Yank Sing’s management was willing to listen when the workers came forward with their complaint. The restaurant is a family business owned by Henry and Judy Chan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think our ownership was genuinely shocked when they found out and were made aware of these issues,” said the restaurant’s director of operations, Jonathan Glick. He joined the management team after the owners learned of the problem. He said the Chans have replaced three-fourths of the old management team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After negotiations over a year and a half, the Chans \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/press/settlement-yanksing\" target=\"_blank\">agreed to pay four years worth of back wages\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers now get proper breaks, and use timesheets to track their hours. And they have fully paid health insurance. Li says she can now leave work in time to enjoy simple things, like buying groceries to cook her family’s evening meal. She says it’s made a huge difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, things are much more relaxed, much happier now,” said Li.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoon at the National Employment Law Project says the Yank Sing victory is part of a movement that’s been growing nationally over the past couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fast-food workers, retail workers, restaurant workers, domestic workers (are) really coming forward to demand better wages, better working conditions,” Yoon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10559244\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-10559244 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Workers and labor advocates rally for higher pay and better working conditions at the 16th and Mission BART station, Jan. 21, 2015.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/06/RS14863_IMG_0143.JPG-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers and labor advocates rally for higher pay and better working conditions at the 16th and Mission BART Station on Jan. 21, 2015. \u003ccite>(Vinnee Tong/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shaw San Liu is with the San Francisco-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpasf.org/about\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese Progressive Association\u003c/a>. Throughout the campaign, her organization and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.asianlawcaucus.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Asian Law Caucus\u003c/a> helped the Yank Sing workers understand their rights, organize as a group and take their requests to management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu said she’s proud to see what benefits these immigrant workers have won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these things, they’re pretty unheard of, to happen in this industry,\" Liu said. \"We think it sets a precedent for other restaurants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Li, the dim sum cook, hopes Yank Sing will be an example to others to take up the fight against wage theft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully everyone will organize more people, and be better informed so they can get our kind of pay and have better lives,” Li said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the campaign changed her. She learned she could sit at a negotiating table with managers who she was once nervous just to talk to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s keeping up her fight for workers rights, by helping organize workers at other restaurants to speak up against abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Note: This article has been changed to reflect the fact that the state agency that enforces labor laws is the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Industrial Relations. We regret the error.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>California has the seventh-largest economy in the world, and immigrants have a long history in building that prosperity. Today one out of every three working people in California is an immigrant — a share that has grown in recent decades. Our state is shaped by these workers and entrepreneurs — 6 million people who’ve found a job in the Golden State. In our series “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/california-immigrants-at-work\">Immigrant Shift\u003c/a>,” KQED and The California Report explore the impact they have, the challenges they face and the policies that affect them.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "La Implementación de la Nueva Ley del Salario Mínimo en Los Ángeles Será un Reto",
"title": "La Implementación de la Nueva Ley del Salario Mínimo en Los Ángeles Será un Reto",
"headTitle": "Immigrant Shift: The Changing California Workforce | The California Report | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/22/enforcement-of-new-l-a-minimum-wage-law-will-be-challenging\">Leer en Inglés\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cundían los vítores el mes pasado cuando las autoridades de la ciudad de Los Ángeles aprobaron una ordenanza que impelerá el salario mínimo en la ciudad a los $15 la hora para el año 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Con el entusiasmo también llega la preocupación – en particular entre los inmigrantes, quienes comprenden la mayoría de los trabajadores de bajos ingresos – referente a precisamente cómo intenta la ciudad hacer cumplir el aumento de sueldo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/215847318\" params=\"color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Durante los meses de audiencias públicas que llevaron a la aprobación final del aumento de sueldo, abundaron las historias de presunto robo salarial. Muchas historias partieron de los inmigrantes, quienes describían a dueños de restaurantes que se quedaban con sus propinas, instalaciones de lavado de autos que pagaban menos de lo acordado y represalias contra los que levantaban la voz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nadie quiere un aumento en el costo de la mano de obra salvo que alguien les ponga mano al fuego y se lo obliguen”, dice Tia Koonse, del UCLA Labor Center, co-autora del informe sobre el impacto que surte el robo de salarios en Los Ángeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"8dPpR296TLreRoLLNJ196tyYbkRzATj9\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>De los aproximadamente 700 mil trabajadores que bajo la nueva ordenanza del salario mínimo podrían ver un aumento en su paga, unos 6 de cada 10 no nacieron en los Estados Unidos, según Daniel Fleming, director de la Economic Roundtable, un grupo de investigación de políticas gubernamentales en Los Ángeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los trabajadores inmigrantes con manejo limitado del inglés o que no conocen las leyes laborales pueden estar en peligro de ser explotados, dicen los defensores, pero los más vulnerables suelen ser los indocumentados.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Es en realidad ilegal pagar menos del salario mínimo”, dice Koonse. “Y hay que pagar a los trabajadores indocumentados, quienes califican para recibir todos y cada uno de los derechos al salario y el horario de los que gozan sus contrapartes documentados”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Oficina del Fiscal de la Ciudad de Los Ángeles lleva algunos de los temas de quejas salariales y laborales, pero sólo una fracción de ellas. La mayor parte – más del 80 por ciento – los lleva un pequeño equipo de investigadores y abogados de la Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE por sus siglas en inglés: División de Implementación de Normas Laborales) del Comisionado Laboral de California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10611475\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10611475\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071-800x507.jpg\" alt=\"Defensores – en su mayoría – de una propuesta por aumentar el salario mínimo en Los Ángeles a $15 la hora para el 2020 de manera rutinaria atiborran la cámara del Consejo de la Ciudad para presenciar un voto importante.\" width=\"800\" height=\"507\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071-400x254.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Defensores – en su mayoría – de una propuesta por aumentar el salario mínimo en Los Ángeles a $15 la hora para el 2020 de manera rutinaria atiborran la cámara del Consejo de la Ciudad para presenciar un voto importante. \u003ccite>(Brian Watt/KPCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Los Ángeles es la capital de robo salarial del país”, dice abogada de DLSE, Julia Figueira-McDonough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La oficina de Figueira-McDonough atiende unas 5.000 quejas por robo salarial al año, en particular derivadas de las industrias que emplean altos números de trabajadores inmigrantes, pero que con frecuencia les pagan menos del salario mínimo actual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sencillamente, Los Ángeles es una ciudad mucho más grande con una mayor variedad de industrias de poca remuneración: la confección, la conserjería, la construcción”, explica Figueira-McDonough. “Muchas industrias que dependen de lo que tendría que ser mano de obra pagada al salario mínimo, pero no pagan ni el mínimo”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuando entra en vigor el aumento salarial en Los Ángeles en junio, también se abrirá una nueva División de Implementación de Salarios de la ciudad. Seguirá el modelo de la división de implementación de salarios de San Francisco, donde trabajan unos seis investigadores de robo salarial a tiempo completo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Ángeles comenzará con cinco investigadores. Koonse replica que esto no es suficiente. Pero que no es un mal comienzo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nosotros tenemos como nueve veces el número de trabajadores de bajos ingresos que San Francisco, entonces claramente, con contratar a cinco investigadores no se va a lograr el nivel de implementación al que llega San Francisco”, explica Koonse. “No obstante, es mejor que lo que ocurre a nivel estatal”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El objetivo de Los Ángeles es de ampliar el personal de la oficina de implementación de las leyes salariales y laborales a unos 40 empleados para el año 2020, cuando entra en vigor el salario de $15 la hora. Los negocios que no cumplen con la ley podrán verse con multas de miles de dólares y perder sus licencias de operación.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'L.A. es la capital de robo salarial del país'\u003ccite>Julia Figueira-McDonough\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Pero son muchos los empleadores que temen que estas reglas estrictas podrían ser explotados por las personas que presentan reclamos falsos de robo de salarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Se van a ver abogados y defensores que utilizarán esta estructura de implementación que en este momento se ve muy apto para el abuso”, dice Rubén González, de la Cámara de Comercio de Los Ángeles Metropolitana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Le garantizo que en aquellas empresas donde quieren entrar los sindicatos, van a surgir de repente numerosas quejas salariales que podrán ser reclamos falsos”, asevera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Vallecillo dice que sus reclamos son de verdad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallecillo se encuentra entre un grupo de trabajadores en una empresa de almacenamiento cerca de los puertos de Los Ángeles que le han entablado juicio contra su empleador por presunto robo de salarios. Explica Vallecillo que varios de los trabajadores inmigrantes del grupo no tienen documentos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Algunos de nuestros trabajadores indocumentados han estado trabajando allí 10, 15 años, y tenían miedo de unirse al grupo por la represalia de ser despedidos”, dice Vallecillo. “Además, siguen con miedo hasta el día de hoy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10611470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Activistas laborales celebran el 13 de junio del 2015 en lo que el alcalde de Los Ángeles, Eric Garcetti, firma legislación a partir de una ordenanza que eleva el salario mínimo a $15 para el 2020.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10611470\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activistas laborales celebran el 13 de junio del 2015 en lo que el alcalde de Los Ángeles, Eric Garcetti, firma legislación a partir de una ordenanza que eleva el salario mínimo a $15 para el 2020. \u003ccite>(MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Si la ciudad ya contara con una oficina de implementación de la ley salarial operante, explica, tal vez él y sus colegas no tendrían que haber entablado juicio contra su empleador.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Con todo, el ganar un juicio contra un empleador que no paga el salario legal no es garantía que los trabajadores reciban el dinero que se les debe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Según un informe del comisionado estatal de trabajo, sólo un 15 por ciento de las víctimas del robo de salarios que ganan sus casos reciben recompensa. Los juicios pueden demorarse por la presentación de apelaciones. Un negocio podría cerrarse y volver a abrir con otro nombre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hoy podría llamarse Magic Carwash y mañana llamarse Magic Carwash Inc.,” explica Flor Rodríguez de la organización sin fines de lucro, Clean Carwash Campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodríguez cuenta que esto es lo que le ocurrió hace unos años a un grupo de trabajadores de lavado de autos en Los Ángeles. La organización ayudó a estos trabajadores, todos inmigrantes, y con el tiempo llegaron a ganar un juicio de varios miles de dólares por pérdida salarial contra su antiguo empleador.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Elaboramos un caso ante el departamento de trabajo, pero no hemos recibido dinero del caso”, comenta Rodríguez. “A los trabajadores que participaron en el caso, el dueño comenzó a darles cada vez menos horas de trabajo. Entonces, la represalia se dio rápidamente”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislación propuesta por el Presidente pro Tem del Senado Estatal, Kevin de León (demócrata por Los Ángeles), podría invertir esta tendencia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Si la legislación se aprueba, los empleadores renegados tendrían que pagar un bono para garantizar el pago de salarios robados o arriesgar que se les imponga embargos a las propiedades y otras sanciones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California tiene la séptima economía más grande del mundo, y a lo largo de la historia del estado, los inmigrantes han contribuido mucho al desarrollo de esta prosperidad. Hoy, una de cada tres personas trabajadoras en California es inmigrante – proporción que ha crecido en las últimas décadas. Nuestro estado está conformado por estos trabajadores y emprendedores – 6 millones de personas que han encontrado empleo en el Estado Dorado. En nuestra serie “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/california-immigrants-at-work\">Transformación migrante,\u003c/a>” KQED y The California Report exploran el impacto que surten los inmigrantes, los retos que enfrentan y las políticas que les afectan.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/22/enforcement-of-new-l-a-minimum-wage-law-will-be-challenging\">Leer en Inglés\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cundían los vítores el mes pasado cuando las autoridades de la ciudad de Los Ángeles aprobaron una ordenanza que impelerá el salario mínimo en la ciudad a los $15 la hora para el año 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Con el entusiasmo también llega la preocupación – en particular entre los inmigrantes, quienes comprenden la mayoría de los trabajadores de bajos ingresos – referente a precisamente cómo intenta la ciudad hacer cumplir el aumento de sueldo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='100%' height='166'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/215847318&visual=true&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false'\n title='https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/215847318'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Durante los meses de audiencias públicas que llevaron a la aprobación final del aumento de sueldo, abundaron las historias de presunto robo salarial. Muchas historias partieron de los inmigrantes, quienes describían a dueños de restaurantes que se quedaban con sus propinas, instalaciones de lavado de autos que pagaban menos de lo acordado y represalias contra los que levantaban la voz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nadie quiere un aumento en el costo de la mano de obra salvo que alguien les ponga mano al fuego y se lo obliguen”, dice Tia Koonse, del UCLA Labor Center, co-autora del informe sobre el impacto que surte el robo de salarios en Los Ángeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>De los aproximadamente 700 mil trabajadores que bajo la nueva ordenanza del salario mínimo podrían ver un aumento en su paga, unos 6 de cada 10 no nacieron en los Estados Unidos, según Daniel Fleming, director de la Economic Roundtable, un grupo de investigación de políticas gubernamentales en Los Ángeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los trabajadores inmigrantes con manejo limitado del inglés o que no conocen las leyes laborales pueden estar en peligro de ser explotados, dicen los defensores, pero los más vulnerables suelen ser los indocumentados.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Es en realidad ilegal pagar menos del salario mínimo”, dice Koonse. “Y hay que pagar a los trabajadores indocumentados, quienes califican para recibir todos y cada uno de los derechos al salario y el horario de los que gozan sus contrapartes documentados”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Oficina del Fiscal de la Ciudad de Los Ángeles lleva algunos de los temas de quejas salariales y laborales, pero sólo una fracción de ellas. La mayor parte – más del 80 por ciento – los lleva un pequeño equipo de investigadores y abogados de la Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE por sus siglas en inglés: División de Implementación de Normas Laborales) del Comisionado Laboral de California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10611475\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-10611475\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071-800x507.jpg\" alt=\"Defensores – en su mayoría – de una propuesta por aumentar el salario mínimo en Los Ángeles a $15 la hora para el 2020 de manera rutinaria atiborran la cámara del Consejo de la Ciudad para presenciar un voto importante.\" width=\"800\" height=\"507\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/CityCouncil-800x5071-400x254.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Defensores – en su mayoría – de una propuesta por aumentar el salario mínimo en Los Ángeles a $15 la hora para el 2020 de manera rutinaria atiborran la cámara del Consejo de la Ciudad para presenciar un voto importante. \u003ccite>(Brian Watt/KPCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Los Ángeles es la capital de robo salarial del país”, dice abogada de DLSE, Julia Figueira-McDonough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La oficina de Figueira-McDonough atiende unas 5.000 quejas por robo salarial al año, en particular derivadas de las industrias que emplean altos números de trabajadores inmigrantes, pero que con frecuencia les pagan menos del salario mínimo actual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sencillamente, Los Ángeles es una ciudad mucho más grande con una mayor variedad de industrias de poca remuneración: la confección, la conserjería, la construcción”, explica Figueira-McDonough. “Muchas industrias que dependen de lo que tendría que ser mano de obra pagada al salario mínimo, pero no pagan ni el mínimo”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuando entra en vigor el aumento salarial en Los Ángeles en junio, también se abrirá una nueva División de Implementación de Salarios de la ciudad. Seguirá el modelo de la división de implementación de salarios de San Francisco, donde trabajan unos seis investigadores de robo salarial a tiempo completo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Ángeles comenzará con cinco investigadores. Koonse replica que esto no es suficiente. Pero que no es un mal comienzo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nosotros tenemos como nueve veces el número de trabajadores de bajos ingresos que San Francisco, entonces claramente, con contratar a cinco investigadores no se va a lograr el nivel de implementación al que llega San Francisco”, explica Koonse. “No obstante, es mejor que lo que ocurre a nivel estatal”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El objetivo de Los Ángeles es de ampliar el personal de la oficina de implementación de las leyes salariales y laborales a unos 40 empleados para el año 2020, cuando entra en vigor el salario de $15 la hora. Los negocios que no cumplen con la ley podrán verse con multas de miles de dólares y perder sus licencias de operación.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'L.A. es la capital de robo salarial del país'\u003ccite>Julia Figueira-McDonough\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Pero son muchos los empleadores que temen que estas reglas estrictas podrían ser explotados por las personas que presentan reclamos falsos de robo de salarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Se van a ver abogados y defensores que utilizarán esta estructura de implementación que en este momento se ve muy apto para el abuso”, dice Rubén González, de la Cámara de Comercio de Los Ángeles Metropolitana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Le garantizo que en aquellas empresas donde quieren entrar los sindicatos, van a surgir de repente numerosas quejas salariales que podrán ser reclamos falsos”, asevera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Vallecillo dice que sus reclamos son de verdad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallecillo se encuentra entre un grupo de trabajadores en una empresa de almacenamiento cerca de los puertos de Los Ángeles que le han entablado juicio contra su empleador por presunto robo de salarios. Explica Vallecillo que varios de los trabajadores inmigrantes del grupo no tienen documentos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Algunos de nuestros trabajadores indocumentados han estado trabajando allí 10, 15 años, y tenían miedo de unirse al grupo por la represalia de ser despedidos”, dice Vallecillo. “Además, siguen con miedo hasta el día de hoy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10611470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Activistas laborales celebran el 13 de junio del 2015 en lo que el alcalde de Los Ángeles, Eric Garcetti, firma legislación a partir de una ordenanza que eleva el salario mínimo a $15 para el 2020.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10611470\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881.jpg 1400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2015/07/RaiseWageLA-1400x7881-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activistas laborales celebran el 13 de junio del 2015 en lo que el alcalde de Los Ángeles, Eric Garcetti, firma legislación a partir de una ordenanza que eleva el salario mínimo a $15 para el 2020. \u003ccite>(MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Si la ciudad ya contara con una oficina de implementación de la ley salarial operante, explica, tal vez él y sus colegas no tendrían que haber entablado juicio contra su empleador.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Con todo, el ganar un juicio contra un empleador que no paga el salario legal no es garantía que los trabajadores reciban el dinero que se les debe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Según un informe del comisionado estatal de trabajo, sólo un 15 por ciento de las víctimas del robo de salarios que ganan sus casos reciben recompensa. Los juicios pueden demorarse por la presentación de apelaciones. Un negocio podría cerrarse y volver a abrir con otro nombre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hoy podría llamarse Magic Carwash y mañana llamarse Magic Carwash Inc.,” explica Flor Rodríguez de la organización sin fines de lucro, Clean Carwash Campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodríguez cuenta que esto es lo que le ocurrió hace unos años a un grupo de trabajadores de lavado de autos en Los Ángeles. La organización ayudó a estos trabajadores, todos inmigrantes, y con el tiempo llegaron a ganar un juicio de varios miles de dólares por pérdida salarial contra su antiguo empleador.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Elaboramos un caso ante el departamento de trabajo, pero no hemos recibido dinero del caso”, comenta Rodríguez. “A los trabajadores que participaron en el caso, el dueño comenzó a darles cada vez menos horas de trabajo. Entonces, la represalia se dio rápidamente”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislación propuesta por el Presidente pro Tem del Senado Estatal, Kevin de León (demócrata por Los Ángeles), podría invertir esta tendencia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Si la legislación se aprueba, los empleadores renegados tendrían que pagar un bono para garantizar el pago de salarios robados o arriesgar que se les imponga embargos a las propiedades y otras sanciones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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