For years, Cristian Cspedes worked as a foreman for a construction contractor, Unforgettable Coatings, in Las Vegas, where he and his co-workers often worked over 60 hours a week without overtime pay.
He recalls having to tell workers who were injured on the job that they had to deal with the injury and pay for medical care themselves. He knew the treatment and conditions imposed on himself and his co-workers were wrong, but he didnt know he could do anything about it.
I always knew stuff was wrong. I just didnt know where to go to seek help, said Cspedes, who recently became a union organizer and said a wage theft investigation was kicked off after workers started meeting with local union organizers and learning about their rights.
Wage theft is a pervasive problem facing workers throughout the US. According to a 2014 report by the Economic Policy Institute, workers lose over $50bn a year to wage theft from employers. Wage theft includes tactics from stiffing workers on pay, failing to properly pay workers for overtime, minimum wage violations, misclassification of employees as independent contractors, and not providing workers with mandated break times.
We didnt know our rights or anything like that. We were working over 60 hours a week and not getting paid overtime, and here in Nevada over 40 hours is overtime, so we would work 60 to 80 hours a week and sometimes we had to work for free on Sundays just to finish up a project, said Cspedes.
US regulators are cracking down on wage theft. A 2013 investigation by the Department of Labor recovered $47,393 in unpaid overtime wages to 21 workers in Utah. Last year, the department ordered Unforgettable Coatings and its owner Cory Summerhays to pay 593 workers over $3.6m in stolen wages, damages, interest and penalties.
According to the investigation, Unforgettable Coatings falsified employment records to deprive workers of overtime pay, intimidated workers from speaking up about the practices and forced workers to volunteer to work on weekends without pay. The intimidation included threatening to call immigration services on workers and reducing workers hours and pay if they were suspected to be cooperating with the departments investigation.
Emotionally, it took a toll on me. I didnt know that because I was an immigrant, my employer was allowed to take advantage of me and my co-workers, said Samuel Castillo, one of the workers at Unforgettable Coatings who received backpay as a result of the investigation. He now works in the construction industry as a union member, where he says the differences are stark compared with the low pay, lack of benefits, and working conditions he previously worked under.
The department credited workers who spoke up and assisted in the investigation despite the threats and intimidation they received from their employer, including Cspedes, who has since joined the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) as a member and union organizer working to organize other workers throughout the construction industry who are being subjected to similar systematic labor abuses and wage theft.
The fines dont seem to have deterred others. IUPAT is currently assisting workers in holding another local construction company accountable for wage theft and retaliating against workers, Spectrum Construction.
Carlos Funez worked at Spectrum Construction and was fired along with a few other co-workers after his employer found out they were meeting with IUPAT organizers.
I noticed from co-workers that they were stealing our money. I would ask why arent you saying anything, were not getting paid overtime for working on weekends, there was no overtime being paid, said Funez. We were asked why we were having those meetings, I said, well, our rights are being violated and the women are being discriminated against.
Veronica, another construction worker at Spectrum Construction who was fired after meeting with the union and requested to remain anonymous for fear of further retaliation, explained the firings took a toll on her and the other workers. The workers currently have pending charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board over the firings.
I realized what was happening was wage theft and it was not right, she said. The company found out we were having meetings with the union, and they threatened to fire us. We kept having meetings and eventually they fired us.
Jones discovered in speaking with local union organizers at IUPAT district council 51 that he and his co-workers were victims of wage theft as they were not being paid any overtime or given any breaks while working 10-to-12-hour shifts.
I was under the notion I was with a company that wanted to see me achieve, grow, accomplish and secure financial stability. Then to find out that I was essentially being robbed by those who I trusted, those who I intentionally helped to build their company, it was devastating. I was let down, said Jones.
Rolando Bravo Tello also worked at Fredericksburg Glass, and had been involved in a unionization effort last year aimed at pushing back against wage theft issues at the company. Workers were not being paid for the full time they were working at job sites, were not being paid overtime, and were being misclassified as independent contractors.
When I found out that they were not paying me what they were supposed to pay me and other people were getting paid more and I wasnt, I felt like it was a knife to the back to say the least, said Bravo Tello. I was afraid of speaking up or saying something because I didnt think I would gain anything out of it.
He and Jones recently received a wage theft settlement of $34,000 from Fredericksburg Glass and now work as union members in the construction industry, but union organizers argue their case just scratches the surface of the rampant issues facing workers in the construction industry as numerous charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board involving allegations of retaliation and intimidation related to the union drive and wage theft investigation are still open.
Unforgettable Coatings and Cory Summerhays, Spectrum Construction and Fredericksburg Glass did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
There are companies out there where their main business is exploiting workers for their lack of education, immigration status, or lack of knowledge of labor laws, said Herbert Zaldivar, organizing director for IUPAT district council 51. The resources are out there but trying to get workers to come forward because the penalties arent severe or the companies are doing it by structure, its not there yet. The law needs to go harder. Its happening everywhere.