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This is the third complaint the workers have lodged with Cal/OSHA over excessive heat since last August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kitchen can get so hot that [Tagle] feels suffocated like he cannot get enough air, and [Arrano] feels like it is often hotter inside than it is outside,” the complaint reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It alleges that management told employees the air conditioner in KFC and Taco Bell’s shared kitchen was repaired following the initial complaints, but temperatures remain high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Taco Bell told KQED that “the safety and well-being of team members is our top priority at Taco Bell. The franchise owner and operator of this location is currently looking into and working to address any team member concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989997\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2.png\" alt='Two workers at a Taco Bell-KFC stand outside the location protesting unsafe working conditions. They hold signs that read, \"Huelga, Huelga, Huela\" and \"On Strike.\"' width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2.png 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2-160x213.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marcelo Tagle (left) and Daisy Arrano (right) stand outside of a Taco Bell-KFC location in San José on June 12. The workers allege that unsafe heat conditions have made them feel suffocated and resulted in visibly red and clammy skin. \u003ccite>(Courtesy the California Fast Food Workers Union)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The franchise owners, Harman Management Corp. and KFC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout comes as a California safety board is \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/documents/agendaJun2024.pdf\">set to vote\u003c/a> next week on new indoor heat illness prevention rules. The standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board would prohibit workplaces from having indoor temperatures exceeding 87 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These standards have been expected since 2019, when state workplace safety regulators were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983396/prison-workers-excluded-from-indoor-heat-protections-by-california-regulators\">supposed\u003c/a> to propose a set of rules to protect tens of thousands of workers at risk of heat hazards at warehouses, restaurants, packing houses and other indoor workplaces. They missed that deadline, and the debate surrounding the rules has continued for five years since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the board was expected to finally vote on protections, but it delayed a decision due to last-minute cost estimates. If the standards pass on June 20, workplaces will be required to maintain lower indoor temperatures and provide cooling zones when temperatures are over 82 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ask those officials to vote in support of those rules because they’re very important for us workers,” Tagle told KQED. “A lot of people think working in a restaurant is easy, but it’s a job that’s difficult, and you often have to deal with uncomfortable temperatures because owners don’t put enough attention into the problems in their companies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat illness, when the body struggles to cope with high temperatures, can lead to cramps, exhaustion, dizziness, stroke and even death. In California, at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA1386-1.html\">seven workers died\u003c/a> from causes related to indoor heat exposure between 2010 and 2017.[aside postID=news_11989885 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240322-INDOOR-HEAT-GETTY-02-KQED-1020x623.jpg']The Taco Bell employees are requesting repairs to the store’s air conditioner, cooling and water breaks, and training to prevent, identify, and respond to heat-related illnesses. Their complaint also calls on Cal/OSHA to investigate a potential gas leak the employees have detected, citing a smell of gas near the kitchen’s water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are also calling for their work hours to be restored. A second complaint against the same location was filed Monday with San José’s Office of Equality Assurance, accusing KFC of reducing employees’ hours while hiring four new workers. Tagle and Luis Mendez allege that their hours have been cut since shortly after California raised the statewide \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1228\">minimum wage\u003c/a> for fast-food workers to $20 an hour in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We expected our incomes would go up,” the complaint states. “Management cut our schedules and illegally gave our hours to newly-hired workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tagle said that his schedule has been gradually reduced from 25 hours a week to just one day a week since April, while four new employees have recently been hired at the location. He and Mendez believe that it violates San José’s “Opportunity to Work” ordinance for current employees to not be offered increased hours before hiring new staff or to have their hours reduced while the restaurant takes on new employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s walkout comes just two days after employees at a McDonald’s in San José \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CAFastFoodUnion/status/1800235720495559090\">walked off the job\u003c/a>, also protesting hours reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jlara\">Juan Carlos Lara\u003c/a> contributed to this report \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/fjhabvala\">Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/a> contributed to this report\u003c/span>\u003c/i>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The employees, who also allege their hours were cut after California increased fast-food workers’ minimum wage, walked out ahead of a state board’s vote on workplace heat rules.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1719343518,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":19,"wordCount":872},"headData":{"title":"Taco Bell, KFC Workers in San José Walk Out Over Hot, Dangerous Conditions | KQED","description":"The employees, who also allege their hours were cut after California increased fast-food workers’ minimum wage, walked out ahead of a state board’s vote on workplace heat rules.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Taco Bell, KFC Workers in San José Walk Out Over Hot, Dangerous Conditions","datePublished":"2024-06-12T15:35:03-07:00","dateModified":"2024-06-25T12:25:18-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprStoryId":"kqed-11989975","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11989975/taco-bell-kfc-workers-in-san-jose-walk-out-over-hot-dangerous-conditions","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Employees at a Taco Bell and KFC location in San José walked off the job Wednesday afternoon, protesting high kitchen temperatures and other unsafe working conditions ahead of a vote by state regulators on indoor heat protections for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff members at the joint franchise allege that they have been forced to work in unsafe conditions, including 90-degree kitchen temperatures and a potential gas leak, and faced shift reductions since California \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985277/impact-of-california-fast-food-worker-wage-increase-still-too-early-to-gauge\">increased fast-food workers’ minimum wage\u003c/a> to $20 an hour in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employees Marcelo Tagle and Daisy Arrano alleged in a complaint filed Tuesday with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, that the kitchen temperature reached 90 degrees this month. This is the third complaint the workers have lodged with Cal/OSHA over excessive heat since last August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kitchen can get so hot that [Tagle] feels suffocated like he cannot get enough air, and [Arrano] feels like it is often hotter inside than it is outside,” the complaint reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It alleges that management told employees the air conditioner in KFC and Taco Bell’s shared kitchen was repaired following the initial complaints, but temperatures remain high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Taco Bell told KQED that “the safety and well-being of team members is our top priority at Taco Bell. The franchise owner and operator of this location is currently looking into and working to address any team member concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989997\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2.png\" alt='Two workers at a Taco Bell-KFC stand outside the location protesting unsafe working conditions. They hold signs that read, \"Huelga, Huelga, Huela\" and \"On Strike.\"' width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2.png 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/tacobell2-160x213.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marcelo Tagle (left) and Daisy Arrano (right) stand outside of a Taco Bell-KFC location in San José on June 12. The workers allege that unsafe heat conditions have made them feel suffocated and resulted in visibly red and clammy skin. \u003ccite>(Courtesy the California Fast Food Workers Union)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The franchise owners, Harman Management Corp. and KFC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout comes as a California safety board is \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/documents/agendaJun2024.pdf\">set to vote\u003c/a> next week on new indoor heat illness prevention rules. The standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board would prohibit workplaces from having indoor temperatures exceeding 87 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These standards have been expected since 2019, when state workplace safety regulators were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983396/prison-workers-excluded-from-indoor-heat-protections-by-california-regulators\">supposed\u003c/a> to propose a set of rules to protect tens of thousands of workers at risk of heat hazards at warehouses, restaurants, packing houses and other indoor workplaces. They missed that deadline, and the debate surrounding the rules has continued for five years since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the board was expected to finally vote on protections, but it delayed a decision due to last-minute cost estimates. If the standards pass on June 20, workplaces will be required to maintain lower indoor temperatures and provide cooling zones when temperatures are over 82 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ask those officials to vote in support of those rules because they’re very important for us workers,” Tagle told KQED. “A lot of people think working in a restaurant is easy, but it’s a job that’s difficult, and you often have to deal with uncomfortable temperatures because owners don’t put enough attention into the problems in their companies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat illness, when the body struggles to cope with high temperatures, can lead to cramps, exhaustion, dizziness, stroke and even death. In California, at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA1386-1.html\">seven workers died\u003c/a> from causes related to indoor heat exposure between 2010 and 2017.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11989885","hero":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240322-INDOOR-HEAT-GETTY-02-KQED-1020x623.jpg","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Taco Bell employees are requesting repairs to the store’s air conditioner, cooling and water breaks, and training to prevent, identify, and respond to heat-related illnesses. Their complaint also calls on Cal/OSHA to investigate a potential gas leak the employees have detected, citing a smell of gas near the kitchen’s water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are also calling for their work hours to be restored. A second complaint against the same location was filed Monday with San José’s Office of Equality Assurance, accusing KFC of reducing employees’ hours while hiring four new workers. Tagle and Luis Mendez allege that their hours have been cut since shortly after California raised the statewide \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1228\">minimum wage\u003c/a> for fast-food workers to $20 an hour in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We expected our incomes would go up,” the complaint states. “Management cut our schedules and illegally gave our hours to newly-hired workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tagle said that his schedule has been gradually reduced from 25 hours a week to just one day a week since April, while four new employees have recently been hired at the location. He and Mendez believe that it violates San José’s “Opportunity to Work” ordinance for current employees to not be offered increased hours before hiring new staff or to have their hours reduced while the restaurant takes on new employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s walkout comes just two days after employees at a McDonald’s in San José \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CAFastFoodUnion/status/1800235720495559090\">walked off the job\u003c/a>, also protesting hours reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jlara\">Juan Carlos Lara\u003c/a> contributed to this report \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/fjhabvala\">Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/a> contributed to this report\u003c/span>\u003c/i>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11989975/taco-bell-kfc-workers-in-san-jose-walk-out-over-hot-dangerous-conditions","authors":["11913"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_32236","news_29044","news_27626","news_333","news_31551","news_18541","news_18208","news_3733","news_23063","news_33132"],"featImg":"news_11989996","label":"news"},"news_11989607":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11989607","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11989607","score":null,"sort":[1718047901000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"california-is-sitting-on-millions-of-dollars-that-could-be-used-to-boost-wage-theft-response","title":"California Is Sitting on Millions of Dollars That Could Be Used to Boost Wage Theft Response","publishDate":1718047901,"format":"standard","headTitle":"California Is Sitting on Millions of Dollars That Could Be Used to Boost Wage Theft Response | KQED","labelTerm":{"term":18481,"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\">reports of severe understaffing at California’s labor agency\u003c/a> that has hampered its ability to respond to a rise in complaints about wage theft and other labor violations, millions of dollars reserved for enforcing state labor laws still go unspent each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That pool of unused money comes from the state’s cut of the settlements and fines that businesses pay in response to lawsuits stemming from a unique California labor law — known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/02/paga-california-labor-law/\">Private Attorneys General Act\u003c/a> (PAGA) — that allows workers to sue their bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the fund has grown faster than lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed it to be spent, CalMatters’ analysis of state budget documents shows. In 2022–23, they left $197 million in the fund unspent; the 2023–24 budget leaves $170 million unspent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state draws from the fund each year for portions of the Labor Commissioner’s budget. And the fund has paid for some worker outreach and enforcement. Those programs include $8.6 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2024/2024-38.html\">recent grants to 17 local prosecutors\u003c/a> to pursue criminal charges in wage theft cases and a pandemic-era partnership with community groups to inform workers in 42 different languages\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>about workplace rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the fund’s single biggest use in the past five years has been to shore up the state budget. In 2020, the state borrowed $107 million from the labor fund for uses other than direct labor enforcement. In April, \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-04/early-action-summary-thursday-april-4-2024.pdf\">an early budget deal\u003c/a> between Newsom and legislative leaders allowed the state to borrow another $125 million as they sought to reduce a record shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither of these loans needs to be repaid until at least 2027\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>The administration has proposed to leave $119 million in the fund unused in the 2024–25 budget that it’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/05/california-budget-deficit-legislature-democrats/\">negotiating with lawmakers this month\u003c/a> as part of an effort to cover the remaining $28 billion shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s use of the fund has frustrated businesses and labor groups alike, who say the state should spend much more of the money to help the Labor Commissioner’s Office hire or retain more staff needed to process a record number of workers’ wage theft claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to questions from CalMatters, Department of Industrial Relations spokesperson Erika Monterroza wrote in an email that the loans are not unusual during budget deficits and only come from money that’s not being used. She said $7.6 million from the fund is already allocated this year to processing wage claims.[aside label=\"more labor coverage\" tag=\"wage-theft\"]But the department has struggled to fill those new positions. A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2024/05/california-wage-theft-audit-labor-commissioner/\">state audit released in May\u003c/a> found that a slow hiring process and lower salaries than some comparable state and local government jobs partly cause the staff shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monterroza said it’s out of her department’s hands whether the money could be used to increase salaries or speed up hiring, saying that must be bargained with state employee unions. Newsom’s office declined to comment, referring questions to the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the fund is used is a key issue in ongoing negotiations between labor and business groups over changes to PAGA. Business groups, who backed a November \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/21-0027A1%20%28Employee%20Civil%20Action%29.pdf\">ballot measure to repeal the law\u003c/a>, say they will take the measure off the ballot if substantial changes can be agreed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent polling suggests voters support a legislative fix over a ballot measure. The sides face a June 27 deadline for the Legislature to approve changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any deal to avert the costly ballot measure will likely address how to spend the enforcement fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner’s Office has hundreds of millions currently available,” said Kathy Fairbanks, a spokesperson for the coalition of employers sponsoring the ballot measure. “We strongly support using these funds to quickly hire and train staff to help resolve employee claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 30,000 and 40,000 workers file wage theft claims with the office annually. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/the-california-labor-commissioners-office/\">state audit found\u003c/a> chronic understaffing has led to a backlog of 47,000 cases, and the claims regularly take six times longer to resolve than state law allows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez, leader of the California Labor Federation and a former state assemblymember, said labor groups have advocated in past budgets to allow Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower to use the money to address the backlogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, we have a crisis, and we have been asking and pushing the Legislature and the governor to beef up spending to hire up,” Gonzalez told CalMatters. “We were having a hard time getting attention. It’s one of many examples that it’s not a priority to process wage theft claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly’s current and former labor committee chairpersons, San José Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a> and Hayward Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/liz-ortega-165416\">Liz Ortega\u003c/a>, both declined to comment. State Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/lola-smallwood-cuevas-113915\">Lola Smallwood-Cuevas\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat who leads the Senate labor committee, could not be reached for comment last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Barrera also said she supported using available money to increase staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an agreement for the state to appropriate the funds depends on broader negotiations about the scope of the PAGA law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two-decade-old state law allows the Labor Commissioner’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/04/california-labor-law/\">to outsource the role of suing employers\u003c/a> over alleged labor violations to private attorneys, with a worker standing in as plaintiff on behalf of the state and their coworkers. Most suits are \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/UCLA-Labor-Center-Report_WEB.pdf\">brought over wage theft claims\u003c/a>, according to a UCLA Labor Center report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles cm-inline-recirc-hppb wpnbha show-image image-alignleft ts-3 is-1 is-landscape cm-inline-recirc-hppb has-text-align-left\">\n\u003cdiv data-posts=\"\" data-current-post-id=\"428099\">\n\u003cp>Business groups have pushed to repeal it for years, arguing it primarily enriches lawyers while subjecting businesses to frivolous cases over technical violations. Their ballot measure would direct cases back to the Labor Commissioner’s Office, where Fairbanks said workers stand to keep more money if they win individual wage theft claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates say that would only worsen the backlogs at the Labor Commissioner’s Office and remove the option for workers to bring workplace-wide suits against problem employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez said even if the enforcement funds are spent on beefing up the labor agency’s staff, the law should still stand. The May state audit concluded the office would need nearly 900 employees to efficiently process all wage claims. That’s almost triple the positions currently approved for the office — and a third of those are vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner itself is not equipped to handle all the cases we’re seeing in California today,” Gonzalez said. “We’re not fine with taking away the right of employees to sue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"A fund reserved for enforcing state labor laws — including wage theft claims — has grown faster than lawmakers and the governor have directed it to be used, with hundreds of millions of dollars left unspent in recent years.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1718051209,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":26,"wordCount":1139},"headData":{"title":"California Is Sitting on Millions of Dollars That Could Be Used to Boost Wage Theft Response | KQED","description":"A fund reserved for enforcing state labor laws — including wage theft claims — has grown faster than lawmakers and the governor have directed it to be used, with hundreds of millions of dollars left unspent in recent years.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"California Is Sitting on Millions of Dollars That Could Be Used to Boost Wage Theft Response","datePublished":"2024-06-10T12:31:41-07:00","dateModified":"2024-06-10T13:26:49-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"sticky":false,"nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/jeanne-kuang/\">Jeanne Kuang\u003c/a>, CalMatters","nprStoryId":"kqed-11989607","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11989607/california-is-sitting-on-millions-of-dollars-that-could-be-used-to-boost-wage-theft-response","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\">reports of severe understaffing at California’s labor agency\u003c/a> that has hampered its ability to respond to a rise in complaints about wage theft and other labor violations, millions of dollars reserved for enforcing state labor laws still go unspent each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That pool of unused money comes from the state’s cut of the settlements and fines that businesses pay in response to lawsuits stemming from a unique California labor law — known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/02/paga-california-labor-law/\">Private Attorneys General Act\u003c/a> (PAGA) — that allows workers to sue their bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the fund has grown faster than lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed it to be spent, CalMatters’ analysis of state budget documents shows. In 2022–23, they left $197 million in the fund unspent; the 2023–24 budget leaves $170 million unspent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state draws from the fund each year for portions of the Labor Commissioner’s budget. And the fund has paid for some worker outreach and enforcement. Those programs include $8.6 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2024/2024-38.html\">recent grants to 17 local prosecutors\u003c/a> to pursue criminal charges in wage theft cases and a pandemic-era partnership with community groups to inform workers in 42 different languages\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>about workplace rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the fund’s single biggest use in the past five years has been to shore up the state budget. In 2020, the state borrowed $107 million from the labor fund for uses other than direct labor enforcement. In April, \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-04/early-action-summary-thursday-april-4-2024.pdf\">an early budget deal\u003c/a> between Newsom and legislative leaders allowed the state to borrow another $125 million as they sought to reduce a record shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither of these loans needs to be repaid until at least 2027\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>The administration has proposed to leave $119 million in the fund unused in the 2024–25 budget that it’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/05/california-budget-deficit-legislature-democrats/\">negotiating with lawmakers this month\u003c/a> as part of an effort to cover the remaining $28 billion shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s use of the fund has frustrated businesses and labor groups alike, who say the state should spend much more of the money to help the Labor Commissioner’s Office hire or retain more staff needed to process a record number of workers’ wage theft claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to questions from CalMatters, Department of Industrial Relations spokesperson Erika Monterroza wrote in an email that the loans are not unusual during budget deficits and only come from money that’s not being used. She said $7.6 million from the fund is already allocated this year to processing wage claims.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"more labor coverage ","tag":"wage-theft"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the department has struggled to fill those new positions. A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2024/05/california-wage-theft-audit-labor-commissioner/\">state audit released in May\u003c/a> found that a slow hiring process and lower salaries than some comparable state and local government jobs partly cause the staff shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monterroza said it’s out of her department’s hands whether the money could be used to increase salaries or speed up hiring, saying that must be bargained with state employee unions. Newsom’s office declined to comment, referring questions to the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the fund is used is a key issue in ongoing negotiations between labor and business groups over changes to PAGA. Business groups, who backed a November \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/21-0027A1%20%28Employee%20Civil%20Action%29.pdf\">ballot measure to repeal the law\u003c/a>, say they will take the measure off the ballot if substantial changes can be agreed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent polling suggests voters support a legislative fix over a ballot measure. The sides face a June 27 deadline for the Legislature to approve changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any deal to avert the costly ballot measure will likely address how to spend the enforcement fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner’s Office has hundreds of millions currently available,” said Kathy Fairbanks, a spokesperson for the coalition of employers sponsoring the ballot measure. “We strongly support using these funds to quickly hire and train staff to help resolve employee claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 30,000 and 40,000 workers file wage theft claims with the office annually. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/the-california-labor-commissioners-office/\">state audit found\u003c/a> chronic understaffing has led to a backlog of 47,000 cases, and the claims regularly take six times longer to resolve than state law allows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez, leader of the California Labor Federation and a former state assemblymember, said labor groups have advocated in past budgets to allow Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower to use the money to address the backlogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, we have a crisis, and we have been asking and pushing the Legislature and the governor to beef up spending to hire up,” Gonzalez told CalMatters. “We were having a hard time getting attention. It’s one of many examples that it’s not a priority to process wage theft claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly’s current and former labor committee chairpersons, San José Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a> and Hayward Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/liz-ortega-165416\">Liz Ortega\u003c/a>, both declined to comment. State Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/lola-smallwood-cuevas-113915\">Lola Smallwood-Cuevas\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat who leads the Senate labor committee, could not be reached for comment last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Barrera also said she supported using available money to increase staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an agreement for the state to appropriate the funds depends on broader negotiations about the scope of the PAGA law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two-decade-old state law allows the Labor Commissioner’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/04/california-labor-law/\">to outsource the role of suing employers\u003c/a> over alleged labor violations to private attorneys, with a worker standing in as plaintiff on behalf of the state and their coworkers. Most suits are \u003ca href=\"https://www.labor.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/UCLA-Labor-Center-Report_WEB.pdf\">brought over wage theft claims\u003c/a>, according to a UCLA Labor Center report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles cm-inline-recirc-hppb wpnbha show-image image-alignleft ts-3 is-1 is-landscape cm-inline-recirc-hppb has-text-align-left\">\n\u003cdiv data-posts=\"\" data-current-post-id=\"428099\">\n\u003cp>Business groups have pushed to repeal it for years, arguing it primarily enriches lawyers while subjecting businesses to frivolous cases over technical violations. Their ballot measure would direct cases back to the Labor Commissioner’s Office, where Fairbanks said workers stand to keep more money if they win individual wage theft claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates say that would only worsen the backlogs at the Labor Commissioner’s Office and remove the option for workers to bring workplace-wide suits against problem employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez said even if the enforcement funds are spent on beefing up the labor agency’s staff, the law should still stand. The May state audit concluded the office would need nearly 900 employees to efficiently process all wage claims. That’s almost triple the positions currently approved for the office — and a third of those are vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner itself is not equipped to handle all the cases we’re seeing in California today,” Gonzalez said. “We’re not fine with taking away the right of employees to sue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11989607/california-is-sitting-on-millions-of-dollars-that-could-be-used-to-boost-wage-theft-response","authors":["byline_news_11989607"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_19904","news_33039","news_29865","news_18208"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11989608","label":"news_18481"},"news_11988204":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11988204","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11988204","score":null,"sort":[1717100863000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"mounting-backlog-of-wage-theft-claims-in-california-due-to-severe-understaffing-and-poor-training-labor-commission-audit-finds","title":"Major Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Due to Severe Understaffing at California Labor Agency, Audit Finds","publishDate":1717100863,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Major Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Due to Severe Understaffing at California Labor Agency, Audit Finds | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>Severe understaffing, slow hiring, poor training and inefficient bureaucracy combine to slow California’s investigations of wage theft claims, the state auditor’s office concluded Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/the-california-labor-commissioners-office/\">audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office\u003c/a>, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers are left waiting years for money they claim they are owed when their employers fail to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums or legally required break times. Then, those who need the office’s help to collect on their back pay only get all their money back 12% of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit confirms the findings of several recent news reports on the problem, including a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\">2022 CalMatters series detailing long waits\u003c/a> and low payouts for workers making claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit stated that it would take the Labor Commissioner’s Office wage claims unit nearly 900 staff members to fully address the backlogs and handle claims in the time required by law. That’s almost three times the positions the unit currently has — about a third of which are vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though auditors pinned the office’s crisis largely to the understaffing, it also found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The office has a unit to help workers who win their claims recover the money from resistant employers by placing liens on property, levying bank accounts or, in some cases, revoking the employers’ business licenses. However, that unit didn’t recover any of the money in most cases and often did not use all the methods available.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hiring is overseen by two different human resources departments: the Labor Commissioner and that of the larger Department of Industrial Relations. The auditor found the slow process resulted in the office losing qualified candidates. Pay is also sometimes lower than comparable state and local government jobs, the audit found, particularly for hearing officers.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The audit criticized the office for failing to adequately train new staff and supervisors and for using a case management system that was rife with inaccuracies and unreliable data, making it difficult for the office to track the progress of wage claims.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In response to the report, Katrina S. Hagen, the industrial relations director, wrote that the office is working on improvements to the case management system and conducting a study of staff salaries to improve retention. She also noted California is passing increasingly complex new labor laws that may prevent the office from meeting case deadlines even with enough staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage claim system is decades old. In recent years, California labor officials have increasingly tried alternative enforcement methods, including workplace-wide investigations in low-wage industries with the help of worker advocates. Last week, they announced they would award $8.5 million to 17 local prosecutors to bring criminal charges against problem employers. [aside postID=news_11979626 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-26-KQED-1020x680.jpg']However, advocates said the individual claim system is still an important way for workers who believe they’ve been underpaid to recover small amounts without hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit immediately prompted labor leaders to call for the state to prioritize hiring at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. The California Labor Federation said the office should get emergency hiring authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s audit findings demonstrate that California workers face an enforcement crisis,” federation leader Lorena Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our state enforcement agencies weren’t designed to handle this magnitude of labor law violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/steven-glazer-165414\">Steve Glazer\u003c/a>, an Orinda Democrat who pushed for the audit last year in response to the news reports, lambasted the office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California State Auditor’s report makes clear that our State Labor Commissioner is a toothless enforcer of our wage theft laws,” he said in a statement. “Immediate and decisive action to restore integrity and effectiveness to the Labor Commissioner’s office is needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Glazer isn’t planning any bills to address the issue, his spokesperson Steven Harmon said.\u003cbr>\n[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='immigration']The release of the audit puts pressure on lawmakers and business and labor lobbyists to reach a deal in a simmering battle over another California labor law. A longtime target of the California Chamber of Commerce and other employers’ groups, the Private Attorneys General Act allows workers with private lawyers to take on the role of the state in suing their employers for alleged violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class-action suits brought against employers generate about $200 million a year in penalties that get deposited into a fund for state labor enforcement efforts. Workers’ advocates argue those cases are also diverted from what would be an even worse backlog for the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Chamber-backed measure to repeal the law is scheduled to be on voters’ ballots in November, though business and labor groups have until late June to reach a compromise that could be passed by the Legislature instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is absolutely the worst time to even consider” repealing the law, said Alexandra Suh, co-president of the California Coalition for Worker Power and executive director of the Koreatown Immigrant Workers’ Alliance in LA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has been helping workers file wage claims for more than 30 years, and Suh said delays at the office have been a longstanding problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This audit is even more clear evidence in my mind that we need to preserve PAGA, preserve the right of workers to stand in the shoes of the state to address violations and relieve pressure on the Labor Commissioner’s Office,” Suh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The result, according to the audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1717113437,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":20,"wordCount":971},"headData":{"title":"Major Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Due to Severe Understaffing at California Labor Agency, Audit Finds | KQED","description":"The result, according to the audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Major Wage-Theft Claim Backlog Due to Severe Understaffing at California Labor Agency, Audit Finds","datePublished":"2024-05-30T13:27:43-07:00","dateModified":"2024-05-30T16:57:17-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"source":"CalMatters","sourceUrl":"https://calmatters.org/","sticky":false,"nprByline":"Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters","nprStoryId":"kqed-11988204","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11988204/mounting-backlog-of-wage-theft-claims-in-california-due-to-severe-understaffing-and-poor-training-labor-commission-audit-finds","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Severe understaffing, slow hiring, poor training and inefficient bureaucracy combine to slow California’s investigations of wage theft claims, the state auditor’s office concluded Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/the-california-labor-commissioners-office/\">audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office\u003c/a>, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers are left waiting years for money they claim they are owed when their employers fail to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums or legally required break times. Then, those who need the office’s help to collect on their back pay only get all their money back 12% of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit confirms the findings of several recent news reports on the problem, including a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\">2022 CalMatters series detailing long waits\u003c/a> and low payouts for workers making claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit stated that it would take the Labor Commissioner’s Office wage claims unit nearly 900 staff members to fully address the backlogs and handle claims in the time required by law. That’s almost three times the positions the unit currently has — about a third of which are vacant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though auditors pinned the office’s crisis largely to the understaffing, it also found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The office has a unit to help workers who win their claims recover the money from resistant employers by placing liens on property, levying bank accounts or, in some cases, revoking the employers’ business licenses. However, that unit didn’t recover any of the money in most cases and often did not use all the methods available.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hiring is overseen by two different human resources departments: the Labor Commissioner and that of the larger Department of Industrial Relations. The auditor found the slow process resulted in the office losing qualified candidates. Pay is also sometimes lower than comparable state and local government jobs, the audit found, particularly for hearing officers.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The audit criticized the office for failing to adequately train new staff and supervisors and for using a case management system that was rife with inaccuracies and unreliable data, making it difficult for the office to track the progress of wage claims.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In response to the report, Katrina S. Hagen, the industrial relations director, wrote that the office is working on improvements to the case management system and conducting a study of staff salaries to improve retention. She also noted California is passing increasingly complex new labor laws that may prevent the office from meeting case deadlines even with enough staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage claim system is decades old. In recent years, California labor officials have increasingly tried alternative enforcement methods, including workplace-wide investigations in low-wage industries with the help of worker advocates. Last week, they announced they would award $8.5 million to 17 local prosecutors to bring criminal charges against problem employers. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11979626","hero":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-26-KQED-1020x680.jpg","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>However, advocates said the individual claim system is still an important way for workers who believe they’ve been underpaid to recover small amounts without hiring a lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit immediately prompted labor leaders to call for the state to prioritize hiring at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. The California Labor Federation said the office should get emergency hiring authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s audit findings demonstrate that California workers face an enforcement crisis,” federation leader Lorena Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our state enforcement agencies weren’t designed to handle this magnitude of labor law violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/steven-glazer-165414\">Steve Glazer\u003c/a>, an Orinda Democrat who pushed for the audit last year in response to the news reports, lambasted the office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California State Auditor’s report makes clear that our State Labor Commissioner is a toothless enforcer of our wage theft laws,” he said in a statement. “Immediate and decisive action to restore integrity and effectiveness to the Labor Commissioner’s office is needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Glazer isn’t planning any bills to address the issue, his spokesperson Steven Harmon said.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Coverage ","tag":"immigration"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The release of the audit puts pressure on lawmakers and business and labor lobbyists to reach a deal in a simmering battle over another California labor law. A longtime target of the California Chamber of Commerce and other employers’ groups, the Private Attorneys General Act allows workers with private lawyers to take on the role of the state in suing their employers for alleged violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class-action suits brought against employers generate about $200 million a year in penalties that get deposited into a fund for state labor enforcement efforts. Workers’ advocates argue those cases are also diverted from what would be an even worse backlog for the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Chamber-backed measure to repeal the law is scheduled to be on voters’ ballots in November, though business and labor groups have until late June to reach a compromise that could be passed by the Legislature instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is absolutely the worst time to even consider” repealing the law, said Alexandra Suh, co-president of the California Coalition for Worker Power and executive director of the Koreatown Immigrant Workers’ Alliance in LA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has been helping workers file wage claims for more than 30 years, and Suh said delays at the office have been a longstanding problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This audit is even more clear evidence in my mind that we need to preserve PAGA, preserve the right of workers to stand in the shoes of the state to address violations and relieve pressure on the Labor Commissioner’s Office,” Suh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11988204/mounting-backlog-of-wage-theft-claims-in-california-due-to-severe-understaffing-and-poor-training-labor-commission-audit-finds","authors":["byline_news_11988204"],"categories":["news_31795","news_1169","news_8"],"tags":["news_18538","news_29044","news_20202","news_18208"],"affiliates":["news_18481"],"featImg":"news_11988205","label":"source_news_11988204"},"news_11986889":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11986889","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11986889","score":null,"sort":[1716226357000]},"parent":0,"labelTerm":{},"blocks":[],"publishDate":1716226357,"format":"audio","title":"San Diego Program Helps Wage Theft Victims Recover Money They're Owed","headTitle":"San Diego Program Helps Wage Theft Victims Recover Money They’re Owed | KQED","content":"\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, May 20, 2024:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Workers who are cheated on their paychecks often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">don’t recover the wages\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> they are owed, even after state regulators rule in their favor and ordered their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect their debt. Now, in San Diego County, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a first-of-its-kind government program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is helping workers recover those lost wages.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Graduate student workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986767/uc-santa-cruz-academic-workers-to-strike-over-universitys-treatment-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">going on strike Monday\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. UAW Local 4811, the union representing 48,000 employees across the UC system, says members voted to strike due to campus crackdowns on pro-Palestinian encampments and protests. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Supreme Court will \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hear oral arguments Tuesday\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in a case that could change the fate of more than 1 million gig workers in the state. This is a new challenge to Proposition 22, the 2020 ballot initiative that classified gig workers as independent contractors. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Republican Party held its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986697/at-the-california-gop-convention-optimism-about-november\">statewide convention\u003c/a> this weekend in Burlingame. State GOP officials said they’re gearing up to protect a handful of competitive congressional seats this fall. Meanwhile, at the annual state Democratic executive board convention, the party endorsed a number of statewide measures that might appear on the November ballot.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed\">\u003cb>San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Diego County is stepping up efforts to help residents recover wages they’re owed while fronting them up to $3,000 through a new \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Workplace Justice Fund\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the last decade, thousands of wage claims have remained unpaid even after state authorities ruled in favor of workers and ordered their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect that debt, a process that can be time-consuming and onerous.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To support dozens of low-income workers who are waiting for unpaid wage judgments, San Diego County’s Workplace Justice Fund has distributed roughly $100,000. San Diego’s debt collections agency then also takes on their cases and works to get them paid.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986767/uc-santa-cruz-academic-workers-to-strike-over-universitys-treatment-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">\u003cb>UC Santa Cruz Academic Workers On Strike Monday\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Academic workers and researchers at UC Santa Cruz are walking off the job Monday. This is likely to be the first of a series of strike actions from union workers at University of California campuses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Members of UAW 4811, which represents about 48,000 graduate students and academic workers across the UC system, voted last week to authorize a rolling strike in response to the university system’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984636/violence-erupts-at-ucla-as-protests-over-israels-war-in-gaza-escalate-across-the-u-s\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recent handling\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Union members are alleging their rights have been violated in the crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. But UC officials maintain the strike would be unlawful because it would violate the existing contract with the union, and have warned that anyone who participates will face repercussions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986533/gig-companies-spent-200-million-to-write-their-own-labor-law-the-state-supreme-court-could-throw-it-out\">\u003cb>State Supreme Court To Hear Case Challenging Proposition 22\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A big case goes before \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">the California Supreme Court\u003c/a> on Tuesday that could affect more than a million gig workers in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, voters approved \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11843123/prop-22-explained-why-gig-companies-are-spending-huge-money-on-an-unprecedented-measure\">Proposition 22\u003c/a>, a ballot measure sponsored by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart that allowed the companies to continue treating their ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors. Proposition 22 was the industry’s response to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11770427/uber-lyft-drivers-rally-in-s-f-in-support-of-controversial-gig-employee-bill\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, a state law that codified a state Supreme Court decision that would have required the companies to classify those workers as employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Treating gig workers as independent contractors is central to the business model of the California-based companies, the middlemen who gave rise to the on-demand, app-based gig economy that has permeated our culture. The companies are fighting to hang on to that model, saying it helps them provide gig workers with flexible schedules. Critics say it lets the companies avoid paying employment taxes and shift financial responsibility to their workers and customers, plus governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986697/at-the-california-gop-convention-optimism-about-november\">State Republican Party Looks To Protect Congressional Seats\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state Republican Party held its annual convention in the Bay Area over the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the topics – protecting a handful of competitive seats in the House of Representatives this fall. In 2022, Republicans won a handful of closely contested congressional seats that helped the party \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932477/republicans-narrowly-retake-control-of-the-house-setting-up-divided-government\">win control of the House. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, leaders with \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-19/these-are-the-california-ballot-measures-that-the-democratic-party-is-backing\">the California Democratic Party\u003c/a> endorsed a number of measures that could appear on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\n","stats":{"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"hasAudio":false,"hasPolis":false,"wordCount":772,"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"paragraphCount":15},"modified":1716226787,"excerpt":null,"headData":{"twImgId":"","twTitle":"","ogTitle":"","ogImgId":"","twDescription":"","description":"Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, May 20, 2024: Workers who are cheated on their paychecks often don’t recover the wages they are owed, even after state regulators rule in their favor and ordered their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect their debt. Now, in San Diego County, a first-of-its-kind government program is helping workers recover those lost wages. Graduate student workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz are going on strike Monday. UAW Local 4811, the union representing","title":"San Diego Program Helps Wage Theft Victims Recover Money They're Owed | KQED","ogDescription":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"San Diego Program Helps Wage Theft Victims Recover Money They're Owed","datePublished":"2024-05-20T10:32:37-07:00","dateModified":"2024-05-20T10:39:47-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"san-diego-program-helps-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-theyre-owed","status":"publish","sourceUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrarchive/","audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC9978648539.mp3?updated=1716213672","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","sticky":false,"source":"Morning Report","articleAge":"0","nprStoryId":"kqed-11986889","path":"/news/11986889/san-diego-program-helps-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-theyre-owed","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, May 20, 2024:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Workers who are cheated on their paychecks often \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">don’t recover the wages\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> they are owed, even after state regulators rule in their favor and ordered their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect their debt. Now, in San Diego County, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a first-of-its-kind government program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is helping workers recover those lost wages.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Graduate student workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986767/uc-santa-cruz-academic-workers-to-strike-over-universitys-treatment-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">going on strike Monday\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. UAW Local 4811, the union representing 48,000 employees across the UC system, says members voted to strike due to campus crackdowns on pro-Palestinian encampments and protests. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Supreme Court will \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hear oral arguments Tuesday\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in a case that could change the fate of more than 1 million gig workers in the state. This is a new challenge to Proposition 22, the 2020 ballot initiative that classified gig workers as independent contractors. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Republican Party held its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986697/at-the-california-gop-convention-optimism-about-november\">statewide convention\u003c/a> this weekend in Burlingame. State GOP officials said they’re gearing up to protect a handful of competitive congressional seats this fall. Meanwhile, at the annual state Democratic executive board convention, the party endorsed a number of statewide measures that might appear on the November ballot.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed\">\u003cb>San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Diego County is stepping up efforts to help residents recover wages they’re owed while fronting them up to $3,000 through a new \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Workplace Justice Fund\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the last decade, thousands of wage claims have remained unpaid even after state authorities ruled in favor of workers and ordered their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect that debt, a process that can be time-consuming and onerous.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To support dozens of low-income workers who are waiting for unpaid wage judgments, San Diego County’s Workplace Justice Fund has distributed roughly $100,000. San Diego’s debt collections agency then also takes on their cases and works to get them paid.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986767/uc-santa-cruz-academic-workers-to-strike-over-universitys-treatment-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">\u003cb>UC Santa Cruz Academic Workers On Strike Monday\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Academic workers and researchers at UC Santa Cruz are walking off the job Monday. This is likely to be the first of a series of strike actions from union workers at University of California campuses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Members of UAW 4811, which represents about 48,000 graduate students and academic workers across the UC system, voted last week to authorize a rolling strike in response to the university system’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984636/violence-erupts-at-ucla-as-protests-over-israels-war-in-gaza-escalate-across-the-u-s\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recent handling\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Union members are alleging their rights have been violated in the crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. But UC officials maintain the strike would be unlawful because it would violate the existing contract with the union, and have warned that anyone who participates will face repercussions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986533/gig-companies-spent-200-million-to-write-their-own-labor-law-the-state-supreme-court-could-throw-it-out\">\u003cb>State Supreme Court To Hear Case Challenging Proposition 22\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A big case goes before \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/05/prop-22-oral-arguments/\">the California Supreme Court\u003c/a> on Tuesday that could affect more than a million gig workers in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, voters approved \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11843123/prop-22-explained-why-gig-companies-are-spending-huge-money-on-an-unprecedented-measure\">Proposition 22\u003c/a>, a ballot measure sponsored by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart that allowed the companies to continue treating their ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors. Proposition 22 was the industry’s response to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11770427/uber-lyft-drivers-rally-in-s-f-in-support-of-controversial-gig-employee-bill\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a>, a state law that codified a state Supreme Court decision that would have required the companies to classify those workers as employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Treating gig workers as independent contractors is central to the business model of the California-based companies, the middlemen who gave rise to the on-demand, app-based gig economy that has permeated our culture. The companies are fighting to hang on to that model, saying it helps them provide gig workers with flexible schedules. Critics say it lets the companies avoid paying employment taxes and shift financial responsibility to their workers and customers, plus governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986697/at-the-california-gop-convention-optimism-about-november\">State Republican Party Looks To Protect Congressional Seats\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state Republican Party held its annual convention in the Bay Area over the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the topics – protecting a handful of competitive seats in the House of Representatives this fall. In 2022, Republicans won a handful of closely contested congressional seats that helped the party \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932477/republicans-narrowly-retake-control-of-the-house-setting-up-divided-government\">win control of the House. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, leaders with \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-19/these-are-the-california-ballot-measures-that-the-democratic-party-is-backing\">the California Democratic Party\u003c/a> endorsed a number of measures that could appear on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11986889/san-diego-program-helps-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-theyre-owed","authors":["11739"],"programs":["news_72"],"categories":["news_34018"],"tags":["news_176","news_26585","news_3037","news_28695","news_2759","news_21998","news_21268","news_25682","news_18208"],"featImg":"news_11986807","label":"source_news_11986889"},"news_11986837":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11986837","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11986837","score":null,"sort":[1716206425000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed","title":"San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed","publishDate":1716206425,"format":"standard","headTitle":"San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>San Diego County is stepping up efforts to help residents recover wages they’re owed while fronting them up to $3,000 through a new Workplace Justice Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade, thousands of wage claims have remained unpaid even after state authorities ruled in favor of workers and \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Judgment-Enforcement-Unit.html\">ordered\u003c/a> their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect that debt, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/PubsTemp/DLSE%20Brochures/Collect%20Your%20Award%20from%20the%20Caifornia%20Labor/Brochure-JE_WEB-EN.pdf\">process\u003c/a> that can be time-consuming and onerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To support dozens of workers with low-income who are waiting for unpaid wage judgments, the county’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">Workplace Justice Fund\u003c/a> has distributed roughly $100,000. San Diego’s debt collections agency then also takes on their cases and works to get them paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This program is an example of a county really serving workers in a creative and innovative way, and showing that the county has their back,” said Terri Gerstein, a former wage-theft investigator who now directs the Wagner Labor Initiative at New York University. “Employers who are law-abiding should know that programs like this will enable them to have more fair competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot program is the first of its kind, according to both Gerstein and county officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On paper, California has some of the strongest employee protections in the nation. Yet, as of last summer, more than 6,500 cases with wage claim judgments since 2013 remained completely unpaid, according to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. The amount in back wages, penalties and interest owed totaled $84.6 million. The agency did not provide KQED with more recent figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor commissioner, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955920/california-wage-theft-investigators-staffing-crisis\">understaffed\u003c/a>, works to help workers recover wages in a fraction of those cases. While the agency has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">small judgment enforcement unit\u003c/a> dedicated to the task, it often faces employers who intentionally hide assets or close down their business to avoid complying. Others may simply lack the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego is part of a growing number of counties and cities in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">leveraging their authority\u003c/a> and resources to assist state authorities in combating wage theft, when an employer doesn’t pay workers what they are due.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘They are heroes’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jesus Arriaga, 38, said he filed a complaint with the labor commissioner after a construction company failed to compensate him about $1,700 for work installing bathroom tiles in 2019. The father of two said that as a result he struggled to cover the cost of food, rent and other basics for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arriaga met with agency staffers and attended a hearing. The labor commissioner ruled in the fall of 2021 that Titan Tile Corp. owed him $10,500, for the original work plus waiting time penalties and interest. But until recently, Arriaga felt frustrated by the state wage claim process. Titan Tile didn’t pay him a penny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so disappointed in the laws,” Arriaga said. “I believed in them, in the labor commissioner. I thought they were going to help me, and all they did was waste my time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986807\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986807\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jesus Arriaga puts away some of his tools from his tile setting job outside his San Diego apartment on Friday, May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Carlos A. Moreno for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dustin Gornik, the former chief executive officer at Titan Tile, told KQED he disputed the labor commissioner’s findings, but declined to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was all bogus anyway, what the guy was claiming,” said Gornik. “It was a complete farce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, only one in seven employers in wage claim judgments ultimately paid their workers the full amount owed, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/09/california-wage-theft-cases/#:~:text=California%20issued%20%2432.7%20million%20worth,subsequent%20years%20paid%20even%20fewer.\">CalMatters analysis\u003c/a> of labor commissioner data. Those who don’t pay often face minimal or no consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Arriaga’s case record led San Diego County officials to come to him with a proposition he said initially seemed “too good to be true.” He became one of the first participants in the Workplace Justice Fund, \u003ca href=\"https://www.countynewscenter.com/county-board-approves-workplace-justice-fund/?emci=d301eed8-bd24-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&emdi=b70e7a67-7825-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&ceid=12907144\">approved\u003c/a> by the county board of supervisors last spring with a budget of $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego issued Arriaga a check for $3,000 last December and transferred the case to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/auditor/orrpage.html\">Office of Revenue and Recovery\u003c/a> for collection efforts on his behalf. After years of waiting for redress, Arriaga said his faith in the law has been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are heroes,” he said. “I never expected the county to give me money that they have no obligation to give me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The challenge of debt collection\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the county is successful in obtaining payment on Arriaga’s judgment, the first $3,000 would go back to the fund to help other workers, according to county officials. Any additional money recouped would be handed to Arriaga, minus a 35% fee to cover costs incurred by the recovery office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11979626,news_11960459,news_11973279\"]Even with the county’s legal tools and resources, recovering what he is owed will be very difficult because — as often happens in wage-theft recovery — the company Arriaga used to work for closed down. Titan Tile’s contractor’s license, which is required to operate in California, expired in November 2021, just one day after the labor commissioner issued its decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employment attorneys said Arriaga — or the county on his behalf — could only pursue assets from Titan Tile, not from any individual owners, because the company was the sole entity named as a defendant in the judgment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is part of the challenge… I don’t think we’ll get apples-to-apples back,” said Branden Butler, who heads the county’s Office of Labor Standards & Enforcement, which launched the Workplace Justice Fund. “But we are hoping that this new model, where essentially we’re trying to take over the debt collection process on behalf of these workers, will yield results.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler said the county has yet to collect any wage judgments on behalf of the 34 participating workers, but that process has just begun. The county may also make changes to this pilot program after they evaluate its impact, he said, both in terms of benefits to participants and debt collectability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to hold the line on accountability,” he said. “We’re going to do our best to try to help these workers recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"San Diego County's Workplace Justice Fund distributes up to $3,000 to local workers who are owed wages but were never paid. The county then takes on the debt collection on workers' behalf. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1716324131,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":25,"wordCount":1095},"headData":{"title":"San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed | KQED","description":"San Diego County's Workplace Justice Fund distributes up to $3,000 to local workers who are owed wages but were never paid. The county then takes on the debt collection on workers' behalf. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"San Diego Aims to Help Wage-Theft Victims Recover Money Owed","datePublished":"2024-05-20T05:00:25-07:00","dateModified":"2024-05-21T13:42:11-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"audioUrl":"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-4[…]f-aaef00f5a073/ba130a23-e819-4db8-bd3c-b17601099abd/audio.mp3","sticky":false,"nprStoryId":"kqed-11986837","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Diego County is stepping up efforts to help residents recover wages they’re owed while fronting them up to $3,000 through a new Workplace Justice Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade, thousands of wage claims have remained unpaid even after state authorities ruled in favor of workers and \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Judgment-Enforcement-Unit.html\">ordered\u003c/a> their employers to pay. Part of the challenge for many wage-theft victims is that they are essentially left on their own to try to collect that debt, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/PubsTemp/DLSE%20Brochures/Collect%20Your%20Award%20from%20the%20Caifornia%20Labor/Brochure-JE_WEB-EN.pdf\">process\u003c/a> that can be time-consuming and onerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To support dozens of workers with low-income who are waiting for unpaid wage judgments, the county’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/OLSE/WorkplaceJusticeFund.html\">Workplace Justice Fund\u003c/a> has distributed roughly $100,000. San Diego’s debt collections agency then also takes on their cases and works to get them paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This program is an example of a county really serving workers in a creative and innovative way, and showing that the county has their back,” said Terri Gerstein, a former wage-theft investigator who now directs the Wagner Labor Initiative at New York University. “Employers who are law-abiding should know that programs like this will enable them to have more fair competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot program is the first of its kind, according to both Gerstein and county officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On paper, California has some of the strongest employee protections in the nation. Yet, as of last summer, more than 6,500 cases with wage claim judgments since 2013 remained completely unpaid, according to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. The amount in back wages, penalties and interest owed totaled $84.6 million. The agency did not provide KQED with more recent figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor commissioner, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955920/california-wage-theft-investigators-staffing-crisis\">understaffed\u003c/a>, works to help workers recover wages in a fraction of those cases. While the agency has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">small judgment enforcement unit\u003c/a> dedicated to the task, it often faces employers who intentionally hide assets or close down their business to avoid complying. Others may simply lack the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego is part of a growing number of counties and cities in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">leveraging their authority\u003c/a> and resources to assist state authorities in combating wage theft, when an employer doesn’t pay workers what they are due.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘They are heroes’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jesus Arriaga, 38, said he filed a complaint with the labor commissioner after a construction company failed to compensate him about $1,700 for work installing bathroom tiles in 2019. The father of two said that as a result he struggled to cover the cost of food, rent and other basics for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arriaga met with agency staffers and attended a hearing. The labor commissioner ruled in the fall of 2021 that Titan Tile Corp. owed him $10,500, for the original work plus waiting time penalties and interest. But until recently, Arriaga felt frustrated by the state wage claim process. Titan Tile didn’t pay him a penny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so disappointed in the laws,” Arriaga said. “I believed in them, in the labor commissioner. I thought they were going to help me, and all they did was waste my time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986807\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986807\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240518-San-Diego-Wage-Fund-CM-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jesus Arriaga puts away some of his tools from his tile setting job outside his San Diego apartment on Friday, May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Carlos A. Moreno for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dustin Gornik, the former chief executive officer at Titan Tile, told KQED he disputed the labor commissioner’s findings, but declined to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was all bogus anyway, what the guy was claiming,” said Gornik. “It was a complete farce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, only one in seven employers in wage claim judgments ultimately paid their workers the full amount owed, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/09/california-wage-theft-cases/#:~:text=California%20issued%20%2432.7%20million%20worth,subsequent%20years%20paid%20even%20fewer.\">CalMatters analysis\u003c/a> of labor commissioner data. Those who don’t pay often face minimal or no consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Arriaga’s case record led San Diego County officials to come to him with a proposition he said initially seemed “too good to be true.” He became one of the first participants in the Workplace Justice Fund, \u003ca href=\"https://www.countynewscenter.com/county-board-approves-workplace-justice-fund/?emci=d301eed8-bd24-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&emdi=b70e7a67-7825-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&ceid=12907144\">approved\u003c/a> by the county board of supervisors last spring with a budget of $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego issued Arriaga a check for $3,000 last December and transferred the case to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/auditor/orrpage.html\">Office of Revenue and Recovery\u003c/a> for collection efforts on his behalf. After years of waiting for redress, Arriaga said his faith in the law has been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are heroes,” he said. “I never expected the county to give me money that they have no obligation to give me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The challenge of debt collection\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the county is successful in obtaining payment on Arriaga’s judgment, the first $3,000 would go back to the fund to help other workers, according to county officials. Any additional money recouped would be handed to Arriaga, minus a 35% fee to cover costs incurred by the recovery office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Stories ","postid":"news_11979626,news_11960459,news_11973279"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Even with the county’s legal tools and resources, recovering what he is owed will be very difficult because — as often happens in wage-theft recovery — the company Arriaga used to work for closed down. Titan Tile’s contractor’s license, which is required to operate in California, expired in November 2021, just one day after the labor commissioner issued its decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employment attorneys said Arriaga — or the county on his behalf — could only pursue assets from Titan Tile, not from any individual owners, because the company was the sole entity named as a defendant in the judgment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is part of the challenge… I don’t think we’ll get apples-to-apples back,” said Branden Butler, who heads the county’s Office of Labor Standards & Enforcement, which launched the Workplace Justice Fund. “But we are hoping that this new model, where essentially we’re trying to take over the debt collection process on behalf of these workers, will yield results.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler said the county has yet to collect any wage judgments on behalf of the 34 participating workers, but that process has just begun. The county may also make changes to this pilot program after they evaluate its impact, he said, both in terms of benefits to participants and debt collectability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to hold the line on accountability,” he said. “We’re going to do our best to try to help these workers recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11986837/san-diego-aims-to-help-wage-theft-victims-recover-money-owed","authors":["8659"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_34071","news_34070","news_18208","news_34072"],"featImg":"news_11986811","label":"news"},"news_11979626":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11979626","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11979626","score":null,"sort":[1710759615000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"workers-lost-millions-to-californias-worst-known-wage-thief-and-hes-still-in-business","title":"Workers Lost Millions to California's Worst Known Wage Thief. And He's Still in Business","publishDate":1710759615,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Workers Lost Millions to California’s Worst Known Wage Thief. And He’s Still in Business | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"content":"\u003cp>California regulators have failed to compel the state’s worst cited wage theft offender to pay the millions of dollars his companies stole from workers, a KQED investigation found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner’s Office ordered Rafael Rivas’ RDV Construction Inc. and RVR General Construction Inc. to pay $16.2 million for defrauding more than 1,100 workers in Southern California. But the agency, which issued the citations for back wages and penalties in 2018 and 2019, had recovered just 2% as of last month, according to a department spokesman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED reviewed hundreds of pages of state documents and court records, knocked on doors of properties linked to Rivas and interviewed workers the construction contractor cheated to piece together an accounting of the stunning labor violations — and how an understaffed agency was unsuccessful in collecting most of what Rivas and his companies owe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has some of the nation’s strongest employee protections on the books, including \u003ca href=\"https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/labor-code/lab-sect-238/#:~:text=(a)%20If%20a%20final%20judgment,conduct%20business%20in%20this%20state%2C\">against wage theft\u003c/a>. Yet, Rivas’ case signals that the state is not prioritizing restitution for workers when their earnings are withheld, according to workers’ rights advocates and employment attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s outrageous. It’s infuriating,” said Benjamin Wood, a former organizer with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center who has helped dozens of workers file wage complaints with regulators, including against RDV. “The state has so much power to enforce laws. But when it comes to massive wage theft, it seems like they’re powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Labor Commissioner’s Office ordered Rafael Rivas’ RDV Construction Inc. and RVR General Construction Inc. to pay $16.2 million for defrauding more than 1,100 workers in Southern California. \u003ccite>( Darren Tu/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From 2017 through 2023, the labor commissioner’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlse-bofe.html\">Bureau of Field Enforcement\u003c/a> assessed $450.6 million in unpaid wages and penalties against thousands of employers statewide, including Rivas’ companies. The agency recovered as little as 16%, or $74.5 million, according to records it provided to KQED last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The database, however, may contain errors and omissions, according to a department statement. A state employee familiar with the bureau’s case management system said that’s because staff don’t consistently update it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beth Ross, an employment attorney, said the omissions point to a dysfunction at the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which has a critical role in protecting vulnerable workers from abuses and helping to level the playing field for law-abiding employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the agency is not capable of keeping the database updated, then what else is the agency not able to get to?” said Ross, an adjunct professor at UC Law San Francisco. “We know the agency has a very difficult time keeping up with the onslaught of complaints and tips it receives about wage theft and labor law abuse in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job vacancy rate at the Labor Commissioner’s Office reached 42% last year, according to an analysis of staffing documents kept by the state Department of Finance. Dozens of wage theft investigators, attorneys and others at the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955920/california-wage-theft-investigators-staffing-crisis\">implored state lawmakers\u003c/a> in July to address a hemorrhaging of employees leaving for better-paid positions elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement\"]‘The Labor Commissioner’s Office will continue to explore all avenues towards restitution that are available to our agency.’[/pullquote]The Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, declined interview requests but said in a statement that collection efforts in Rivas’ case are ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner’s Office will continue to explore all avenues towards restitution that are available to our agency,” said a department spokesperson in a March 14 email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas did not respond to requests for comment by email, phone and messages left in person with an employee at his office in Los Angeles County and on a note at his residential property in San Bernardino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two family business associates named as co-defendants in one of the wage citations — his brother, Juan Rivas, and cousin, Nicolas Del Villar — also declined interview requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Attorney General’s Office, which can criminally prosecute wage theft cases, declined to answer whether it had taken any action against the employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To protect its integrity, we’re unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson for the attorney general wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for district attorneys in San Bernardino and Orange counties said they had no records of cases against Rivas or his companies. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not return requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Victims struggled to pay rent, buy food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11978868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11978868\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">When Saul Pedroza is not working he finds solace gardening in his home in Anaheim. March 7, 2024. \u003ccite>(Zaydee Sanchez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Javier Gonzalez and Saul Pedroza installed steel rods and wooden frames for RDV Construction in 2016 at an apartment complex in Glendale, north of Los Angeles. The crewmates, both Mexican immigrants, said the company never paid them for about a month of full-time work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisors “started telling us that the paychecks were coming next week, and then next week,” Pedroza, 51, said in Spanish. “That’s how they strung us along.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carpenters were given paychecks that bounced due to insufficient funds. After they quit, Pedroza and Gonzalez said they went to the worksite and RDV’s offices to demand their earnings, and they both filed wage claims with the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency determined RDV owes $11,000 to Gonzalez and $12,500 to Pedroza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see it as a mockery of all the people they defrauded and of the government,” Gonzalez, 61, said. “It was a robbery in broad daylight what they did to us.”[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Javier Gonzalez, former RDV Construction employee\"]‘I see it as a mockery of all the people they defrauded and of the government. It was a robbery in broad daylight, what they did to us.’[/pullquote]Pedroza said the theft of his salary meant he couldn’t buy enough food for his four children or pay rent for the family’s mobile home in Anaheim. He said he borrowed money from friends and desperately scrambled for other jobs to avoid eviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a long time that we were doing badly, without any money,” Pedroza told KQED. “It was wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas’ companies underpaid workers at dozens of construction sites from 2014 through 2017, according to investigations by the Bureau of Field Enforcement. In 2018, the labor commissioner cited RDV for nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478392-rdv-wage-citation-2018\">$12 million \u003c/a>in unpaid wages and penalties. It was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wagetheft-construction-20190211-story.html\">largest \u003c/a>citation the agency ever issued. The following year, RVR was hit with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478391-rvr-wage-citation-2019\">$4.3 million citation\u003c/a>.\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,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">said\u003c/a> California Labor Secretary Julie Su at the time, who now heads the U.S. Department of Labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Delays Gave Rivas Time to Minimize Payments\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivas appealed the citations. Disruptions during the pandemic further delayed attempts to recover any funds, providing Rivas years to take steps that would limit the labor commissioner’s ability to collect the fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478388-220520-dismissal-of-citation-appeal\">dismissed\u003c/a> Rivas’ appeals in May 2022, he had filed for federal bankruptcy protection for RVR. He also closed down RDV, with the company’s contractor license \u003ca href=\"https://cslb.ca.gov/942568\">expiring\u003c/a> in April 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That meant state claims against RVR, which continues to operate, could not legally be collected outside of bankruptcy court, and obtaining funds from RDV would be very difficult, according to several legal experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s next to impossible to collect from a company that’s closed unless they have real estate or other assets, which would be very rare, particularly for a small construction contractor,” said Greg Groeneveld, an attorney in San Francisco who specializes in enforcing wage judgments. “But you can sometimes pursue the owners of that company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor commissioner may still choose to target individual defendants cited, including Rivas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When an employer doesn’t pay a wage fine that’s deemed final, the agency requests a state court to order payment. The civil judgment generally allows a creditor to use tools such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/partners/documents/collecting.pdf\">liens and levies\u003c/a> to try to recover what is owed. [aside label=\"Related Stories\" tag=\"wage-theft\"]Many employers agree to settle before a court issues a judgment against them. But others don’t have the money or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">try to dodge payments\u003c/a>, including by closing their companies or transferring ownership of real estate as a way to hide assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County Superior Court awarded the labor commissioner a judgment against Rivas, Juan Rivas, Del Villar and RDV last year. However, investigating a debtor’s true ability to pay can be time-consuming and difficult, and it’s unclear what of the individuals’ personal assets the department has tracked as eligible for collections. The labor commissioner’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Judgment-Enforcement-Unit.html\">Judgment Enforcement Unit\u003c/a>, tasked with recovering funds in thousands of unpaid judgments, had 16 out of 28 positions filled last year, according to the Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino County Assessor’s records show Rivas transferred at least one commercial property in Fontana, which is listed as RVR’s official business address, to a family member, Rosa Rivas, months after filing for the company’s bankruptcy. Rivas also owns an adjacent vacant plot of land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commercial property, with a Zillow estimated market value of $1.4 million, has a barber shop and hair salon facing the street and a one-story home standing in the back. A woman who told KQED she was eating lunch at the home identified herself only as Rivas’ ex, adding that they no longer spoke to each other. She declined to give more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to hear anything else about him,” she said before closing the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three miles away, no one opened the door at a residential property owned by Rivas. A reporter observed a luxury Maserati Grecale purchased last spring, according to a document taped to its windshield, and a Ford F-550 flatbed truck were parked on the driveway. KQED could not confirm that Rivas owns the vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is Rafael Rivas?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivas started working in construction as a teenager more than 45 years ago, according to documents filed by his attorney in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former day laborer went on to grow businesses that earned millions of dollars per year, building private hotels, mixed-use buildings, luxury apartments and at least one affordable housing project near downtown Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas, 61, co-founded RDV Construction in 2010 with Juan Rivas and Del Villar. The following year, Rivas launched RVR General Construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Rivas blamed his family business partners for the wage theft violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Attorney Michael Jones, represents RVR General Construction Inc.\"]‘Rivas was certain he had not violated any such regulations and later learned that the family partners were the source of problems.’[/pullquote]“Rivas was certain he had not violated any such regulations and later learned that the family partners were the source of problems,” according to filings by attorney Michael Jones, who represented RVR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Realizing that he was not compatible with the family partners as business associates, Rivas did venture out on his own and began doing business by himself through RVR,” Jones added. “However, a significant amount of damage had already been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate case, the labor commissioner determined RDV owed $314,500 for underpaying more than a dozen carpenters employed at a Los Angeles public housing project in 2015 and 2016. Rivas settled for an undisclosed amount after the Contractors State License Board \u003ca href=\"https://www.cslb.ca.gov/contractors/license_problems/Suspended_License.aspx\">suspended\u003c/a> his companies’ licenses to operate until the judgment was resolved, said Katherine White, chief of public affairs at the license board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas’ companies repeatedly violated workplace standards, paying about $37,000 in back wages and damages to the U.S. Department of Labor in 2017, and additional fines to other regulators. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health penalized RDV and RVR, including for safety violations related to the 2015 \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1142715.015&id=1110939.015&id=1107842.015\">death\u003c/a> of an employee who fell 40 feet from a roof opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How much is the labor commissioner set to recover in Rivas’ case?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, the labor commissioner has collected $277,000 towards the two multi-million citations, including through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/legal_issues_for_consumers/mechanics_lien/What_Is_A_Mechanics_Lien.aspx#:~:text=A%20mechanics%20lien%20is%20a,property%20in%20lieu%20of%20compensation.\">mechanics lien\u003c/a> and a payment plan for RVR to emerge from \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/ust/bankruptcy-fact-sheets/overview-bankruptcy-chapters#:~:text=A%20consumer%20debtor%20receives%20a,discharge%20by%20the%20Bankruptcy%20Code.&text=Chapter%2011%20bankruptcy%20provides%20a,debts%20while%20continuing%20to%20operate.\">Chapter 11\u003c/a> bankruptcy, said Peter Melton, a spokesperson with the Department of Industrial Relations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can confirm the Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) has received over $164,000 from Chapter 11 bankruptcy payments as part of our judgment enforcement efforts in this case,” said Melton in an email. “LCO also collected and disbursed $100,000 on a mechanics lien lawsuit against this employer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bankruptcy payments appear to be the only restitution the agency is currently receiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Beth Ross, employment attorney\"]‘It’s really a shame. These workers are so unlikely to see any amounts of money that could remedy the wrong that they suffered. And that’s if you can find them. As time goes on, fewer and fewer of these workers will be found.’[/pullquote]RVR agreed to pay at least 10% of its total income until it fully covers or settles the labor commissioner’s $7.6 million claim, according to bankruptcy documents. The company projects installments of about $150,000 per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that rate, it would take RVR 50 years to settle the debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really a shame,” said Ross, the employment attorney. “These workers are so unlikely to see any amounts of money that could remedy the wrong that they suffered. And that’s if you can find them. As time goes on, fewer and fewer of these workers will be found.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://lnbyg.com/team/daniel-h-reiss/\">Daniel Reiss\u003c/a>, a bankruptcy lawyer who reviewed RVR’s case for KQED, said an important question now is how the labor commissioner is monitoring the company’s income to ensure their payments comply with the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on RVR’s financial picture, the agency could still push for a shorter-term deal through a court mediation panel, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can make a negotiation with respect to getting money now while everybody’s still alive, as opposed to having no idea if it will ever be paid off,” said Reiss, who is also a bankruptcy mediator for the Central District of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Construction companies led by the same man, Rafael Rivas, owed more than $16 million in unpaid wages and penalties issued by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency had collected just 2% as of last month.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1721132479,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":55,"wordCount":2548},"headData":{"title":"Workers Lost Millions to California's Worst Known Wage Thief. And He's Still in Business | KQED","description":"Construction companies led by the same man, Rafael Rivas, owed more than $16 million in unpaid wages and penalties issued by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency had collected just 2% as of last month.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Workers Lost Millions to California's Worst Known Wage Thief. And He's Still in Business","datePublished":"2024-03-18T04:00:15-07:00","dateModified":"2024-07-16T05:21:19-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"audioUrl":"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/1012e8e4-1f00-4bf7-be87-b1370104f15a/audio.mp3","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11979626/workers-lost-millions-to-californias-worst-known-wage-thief-and-hes-still-in-business","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California regulators have failed to compel the state’s worst cited wage theft offender to pay the millions of dollars his companies stole from workers, a KQED investigation found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Commissioner’s Office ordered Rafael Rivas’ RDV Construction Inc. and RVR General Construction Inc. to pay $16.2 million for defrauding more than 1,100 workers in Southern California. But the agency, which issued the citations for back wages and penalties in 2018 and 2019, had recovered just 2% as of last month, according to a department spokesman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED reviewed hundreds of pages of state documents and court records, knocked on doors of properties linked to Rivas and interviewed workers the construction contractor cheated to piece together an accounting of the stunning labor violations — and how an understaffed agency was unsuccessful in collecting most of what Rivas and his companies owe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has some of the nation’s strongest employee protections on the books, including \u003ca href=\"https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/labor-code/lab-sect-238/#:~:text=(a)%20If%20a%20final%20judgment,conduct%20business%20in%20this%20state%2C\">against wage theft\u003c/a>. Yet, Rivas’ case signals that the state is not prioritizing restitution for workers when their earnings are withheld, according to workers’ rights advocates and employment attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s outrageous. It’s infuriating,” said Benjamin Wood, a former organizer with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center who has helped dozens of workers file wage complaints with regulators, including against RDV. “The state has so much power to enforce laws. But when it comes to massive wage theft, it seems like they’re powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/wage-theft_4-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Labor Commissioner’s Office ordered Rafael Rivas’ RDV Construction Inc. and RVR General Construction Inc. to pay $16.2 million for defrauding more than 1,100 workers in Southern California. \u003ccite>( Darren Tu/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From 2017 through 2023, the labor commissioner’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlse-bofe.html\">Bureau of Field Enforcement\u003c/a> assessed $450.6 million in unpaid wages and penalties against thousands of employers statewide, including Rivas’ companies. The agency recovered as little as 16%, or $74.5 million, according to records it provided to KQED last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The database, however, may contain errors and omissions, according to a department statement. A state employee familiar with the bureau’s case management system said that’s because staff don’t consistently update it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beth Ross, an employment attorney, said the omissions point to a dysfunction at the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which has a critical role in protecting vulnerable workers from abuses and helping to level the playing field for law-abiding employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the agency is not capable of keeping the database updated, then what else is the agency not able to get to?” said Ross, an adjunct professor at UC Law San Francisco. “We know the agency has a very difficult time keeping up with the onslaught of complaints and tips it receives about wage theft and labor law abuse in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job vacancy rate at the Labor Commissioner’s Office reached 42% last year, according to an analysis of staffing documents kept by the state Department of Finance. Dozens of wage theft investigators, attorneys and others at the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955920/california-wage-theft-investigators-staffing-crisis\">implored state lawmakers\u003c/a> in July to address a hemorrhaging of employees leaving for better-paid positions elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘The Labor Commissioner’s Office will continue to explore all avenues towards restitution that are available to our agency.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, declined interview requests but said in a statement that collection efforts in Rivas’ case are ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Labor Commissioner’s Office will continue to explore all avenues towards restitution that are available to our agency,” said a department spokesperson in a March 14 email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas did not respond to requests for comment by email, phone and messages left in person with an employee at his office in Los Angeles County and on a note at his residential property in San Bernardino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two family business associates named as co-defendants in one of the wage citations — his brother, Juan Rivas, and cousin, Nicolas Del Villar — also declined interview requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Attorney General’s Office, which can criminally prosecute wage theft cases, declined to answer whether it had taken any action against the employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To protect its integrity, we’re unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson for the attorney general wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokespeople for district attorneys in San Bernardino and Orange counties said they had no records of cases against Rivas or his companies. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not return requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Victims struggled to pay rent, buy food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11978868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11978868\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/SAUL-PEDROZA-15-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">When Saul Pedroza is not working he finds solace gardening in his home in Anaheim. March 7, 2024. \u003ccite>(Zaydee Sanchez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Javier Gonzalez and Saul Pedroza installed steel rods and wooden frames for RDV Construction in 2016 at an apartment complex in Glendale, north of Los Angeles. The crewmates, both Mexican immigrants, said the company never paid them for about a month of full-time work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisors “started telling us that the paychecks were coming next week, and then next week,” Pedroza, 51, said in Spanish. “That’s how they strung us along.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carpenters were given paychecks that bounced due to insufficient funds. After they quit, Pedroza and Gonzalez said they went to the worksite and RDV’s offices to demand their earnings, and they both filed wage claims with the Labor Commissioner’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency determined RDV owes $11,000 to Gonzalez and $12,500 to Pedroza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see it as a mockery of all the people they defrauded and of the government,” Gonzalez, 61, said. “It was a robbery in broad daylight what they did to us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘I see it as a mockery of all the people they defrauded and of the government. It was a robbery in broad daylight, what they did to us.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Javier Gonzalez, former RDV Construction employee","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Pedroza said the theft of his salary meant he couldn’t buy enough food for his four children or pay rent for the family’s mobile home in Anaheim. He said he borrowed money from friends and desperately scrambled for other jobs to avoid eviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a long time that we were doing badly, without any money,” Pedroza told KQED. “It was wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas’ companies underpaid workers at dozens of construction sites from 2014 through 2017, according to investigations by the Bureau of Field Enforcement. In 2018, the labor commissioner cited RDV for nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478392-rdv-wage-citation-2018\">$12 million \u003c/a>in unpaid wages and penalties. It was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wagetheft-construction-20190211-story.html\">largest \u003c/a>citation the agency ever issued. The following year, RVR was hit with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478391-rvr-wage-citation-2019\">$4.3 million citation\u003c/a>.\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,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">said\u003c/a> California Labor Secretary Julie Su at the time, who now heads the U.S. Department of Labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Delays Gave Rivas Time to Minimize Payments\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivas appealed the citations. Disruptions during the pandemic further delayed attempts to recover any funds, providing Rivas years to take steps that would limit the labor commissioner’s ability to collect the fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24478388-220520-dismissal-of-citation-appeal\">dismissed\u003c/a> Rivas’ appeals in May 2022, he had filed for federal bankruptcy protection for RVR. He also closed down RDV, with the company’s contractor license \u003ca href=\"https://cslb.ca.gov/942568\">expiring\u003c/a> in April 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That meant state claims against RVR, which continues to operate, could not legally be collected outside of bankruptcy court, and obtaining funds from RDV would be very difficult, according to several legal experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s next to impossible to collect from a company that’s closed unless they have real estate or other assets, which would be very rare, particularly for a small construction contractor,” said Greg Groeneveld, an attorney in San Francisco who specializes in enforcing wage judgments. “But you can sometimes pursue the owners of that company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The labor commissioner may still choose to target individual defendants cited, including Rivas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When an employer doesn’t pay a wage fine that’s deemed final, the agency requests a state court to order payment. The civil judgment generally allows a creditor to use tools such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/partners/documents/collecting.pdf\">liens and levies\u003c/a> to try to recover what is owed. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Related Stories ","tag":"wage-theft"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Many employers agree to settle before a court issues a judgment against them. But others don’t have the money or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958124/santa-clara-county-pushes-food-businesses-to-pay-worker-wages-or-lose-permits\">try to dodge payments\u003c/a>, including by closing their companies or transferring ownership of real estate as a way to hide assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County Superior Court awarded the labor commissioner a judgment against Rivas, Juan Rivas, Del Villar and RDV last year. However, investigating a debtor’s true ability to pay can be time-consuming and difficult, and it’s unclear what of the individuals’ personal assets the department has tracked as eligible for collections. The labor commissioner’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Judgment-Enforcement-Unit.html\">Judgment Enforcement Unit\u003c/a>, tasked with recovering funds in thousands of unpaid judgments, had 16 out of 28 positions filled last year, according to the Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Bernardino County Assessor’s records show Rivas transferred at least one commercial property in Fontana, which is listed as RVR’s official business address, to a family member, Rosa Rivas, months after filing for the company’s bankruptcy. Rivas also owns an adjacent vacant plot of land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commercial property, with a Zillow estimated market value of $1.4 million, has a barber shop and hair salon facing the street and a one-story home standing in the back. A woman who told KQED she was eating lunch at the home identified herself only as Rivas’ ex, adding that they no longer spoke to each other. She declined to give more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to hear anything else about him,” she said before closing the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three miles away, no one opened the door at a residential property owned by Rivas. A reporter observed a luxury Maserati Grecale purchased last spring, according to a document taped to its windshield, and a Ford F-550 flatbed truck were parked on the driveway. KQED could not confirm that Rivas owns the vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is Rafael Rivas?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivas started working in construction as a teenager more than 45 years ago, according to documents filed by his attorney in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former day laborer went on to grow businesses that earned millions of dollars per year, building private hotels, mixed-use buildings, luxury apartments and at least one affordable housing project near downtown Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas, 61, co-founded RDV Construction in 2010 with Juan Rivas and Del Villar. The following year, Rivas launched RVR General Construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Rivas blamed his family business partners for the wage theft violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘Rivas was certain he had not violated any such regulations and later learned that the family partners were the source of problems.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Attorney Michael Jones, represents RVR General Construction Inc.","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Rivas was certain he had not violated any such regulations and later learned that the family partners were the source of problems,” according to filings by attorney Michael Jones, who represented RVR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Realizing that he was not compatible with the family partners as business associates, Rivas did venture out on his own and began doing business by himself through RVR,” Jones added. “However, a significant amount of damage had already been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate case, the labor commissioner determined RDV owed $314,500 for underpaying more than a dozen carpenters employed at a Los Angeles public housing project in 2015 and 2016. Rivas settled for an undisclosed amount after the Contractors State License Board \u003ca href=\"https://www.cslb.ca.gov/contractors/license_problems/Suspended_License.aspx\">suspended\u003c/a> his companies’ licenses to operate until the judgment was resolved, said Katherine White, chief of public affairs at the license board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas’ companies repeatedly violated workplace standards, paying about $37,000 in back wages and damages to the U.S. Department of Labor in 2017, and additional fines to other regulators. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health penalized RDV and RVR, including for safety violations related to the 2015 \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1142715.015&id=1110939.015&id=1107842.015\">death\u003c/a> of an employee who fell 40 feet from a roof opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How much is the labor commissioner set to recover in Rivas’ case?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, the labor commissioner has collected $277,000 towards the two multi-million citations, including through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/legal_issues_for_consumers/mechanics_lien/What_Is_A_Mechanics_Lien.aspx#:~:text=A%20mechanics%20lien%20is%20a,property%20in%20lieu%20of%20compensation.\">mechanics lien\u003c/a> and a payment plan for RVR to emerge from \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/ust/bankruptcy-fact-sheets/overview-bankruptcy-chapters#:~:text=A%20consumer%20debtor%20receives%20a,discharge%20by%20the%20Bankruptcy%20Code.&text=Chapter%2011%20bankruptcy%20provides%20a,debts%20while%20continuing%20to%20operate.\">Chapter 11\u003c/a> bankruptcy, said Peter Melton, a spokesperson with the Department of Industrial Relations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can confirm the Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) has received over $164,000 from Chapter 11 bankruptcy payments as part of our judgment enforcement efforts in this case,” said Melton in an email. “LCO also collected and disbursed $100,000 on a mechanics lien lawsuit against this employer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bankruptcy payments appear to be the only restitution the agency is currently receiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘It’s really a shame. These workers are so unlikely to see any amounts of money that could remedy the wrong that they suffered. And that’s if you can find them. As time goes on, fewer and fewer of these workers will be found.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Beth Ross, employment attorney","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>RVR agreed to pay at least 10% of its total income until it fully covers or settles the labor commissioner’s $7.6 million claim, according to bankruptcy documents. The company projects installments of about $150,000 per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that rate, it would take RVR 50 years to settle the debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really a shame,” said Ross, the employment attorney. “These workers are so unlikely to see any amounts of money that could remedy the wrong that they suffered. And that’s if you can find them. As time goes on, fewer and fewer of these workers will be found.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://lnbyg.com/team/daniel-h-reiss/\">Daniel Reiss\u003c/a>, a bankruptcy lawyer who reviewed RVR’s case for KQED, said an important question now is how the labor commissioner is monitoring the company’s income to ensure their payments comply with the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on RVR’s financial picture, the agency could still push for a shorter-term deal through a court mediation panel, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can make a negotiation with respect to getting money now while everybody’s still alive, as opposed to having no idea if it will ever be paid off,” said Reiss, who is also a bankruptcy mediator for the Central District of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11979626/workers-lost-millions-to-californias-worst-known-wage-thief-and-hes-still-in-business","authors":["8659"],"categories":["news_8"],"tags":["news_30731","news_27626","news_18208"],"featImg":"news_11978869","label":"news"},"news_11973279":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11973279","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11973279","score":null,"sort":[1705969213000]},"parent":0,"labelTerm":{"site":"news"},"blocks":[],"publishDate":1705969213,"format":"standard","title":"The Cheesecake Factory Pays $750,000 in Connection to Wage Theft Case","headTitle":"The Cheesecake Factory Pays $750,000 in Connection to Wage Theft Case | KQED","content":"\u003cp>The Cheesecake Factory and two janitorial contractors have paid $1 million in connection to a state wage theft investigation involving hundreds of workers who cleaned the company’s restaurants in San Diego and Orange counties, KQED has learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower is expected to announce the settlement, deemed groundbreaking in the janitorial industry, Tuesday morning in San Diego.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rafael Ventura, field director with the nonprofit Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund\"]‘This sends a message to companies that they must ensure their contractors are operating legally and pay their workers properly. Otherwise, they are also going to be responsible for those violations.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">cited (PDF)\u003c/a> the popular restaurant chain, as well as Magic Touch Commercial Cleaning and Americlean Janitorial Services, for more than $4.5 million in 2018. State investigators uncovered minimum wage, overtime and other employment violations involving more than 550 janitors during a period from 2014 to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much wage theft,” said Rafael Ventura, field director with the nonprofit Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, which worked with dozens of victims to assist state regulators in pursuing the case. “This ensures that workers can recover the wages owed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most businesses with a workforce of 25 or more must share with their labor contractors civil liability for the payment of wages under a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1897\">California law\u003c/a> that went into effect in 2015. The Cheesecake Factory case marks the first time a company pays money in connection to violations by a janitorial contractor in an industry where contracting and subcontracting are common, Ventura said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This sends a message to companies that they must ensure their contractors are operating legally and pay their workers properly,” he said. “Otherwise, they are also going to be responsible for those violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office found janitors were told to stay at restaurants after their eight-hour night shift until Cheesecake Factory kitchen managers reviewed their work, which generally added more tasks and accrued unpaid overtime hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, The Cheesecake Factory’s share of the total amount was $750,000. Contractor Americlean, which subcontracted work to Magic Touch, agreed to pay $200,000. Magic Touch managed the janitors directly and settled for $50,000, according to a copy of the deal obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naxhili Perez, who worked polishing floors at a location in San Diego’s Seaport District, said she was paid $70 a day but often worked longer than 10 hours. To make ends meet, the 41-year-old mom of four worked a second job cleaning homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez, a Mexican immigrant, admitted she didn’t initially realize her employer, Zulma Villegas of Magic Touch, was shorting her paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than five years after the wage theft citation, Perez said she wished more money had been recovered, given the large number of affected janitors. But she said she also understood the companies fought the charges, and regulators agreed to reduce the amount owed to finally resolve the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what they [regulators] were able to achieve because this was going to drag on,” said Perez in Spanish as she picked up her youngest child from school. “I am thankful to all the people that have helped us. If the Labor Commissioner hadn’t gotten involved, we’d all be in the same situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cheesecake Factory did not return requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the three defendants admitted they had engaged in any unlawful conduct in the settlement agreement. However, the two contractors apologized to the affected janitors through handwritten notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your rights as employees were violated when you worked for my company while cleaning the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants,” read the note from Villegas. “I am sorry that I did not fulfill all of my obligations under the law as an employer, some of which were out of my control and for any negative impact to your lives and families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americlean, a company with headquarters in Minneapolis doing business as Allied National Services, said it “could have overseen Magic Touch better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the future, we will take the necessary steps to comply with California law,” read the company’s statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement includes additional obligations for Cheesecake, such as training restaurant managers and corporate officers in California to oversee janitorial contracts and requiring future and renewed janitorial contractors to be subject to audits by the company on wage issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Gould, a professor at Stanford Law School described the settlement as a “modest one,” in part because it failed to include an independent monitor or another mechanism to ensure the company followed through on its promises.[aside tag=\"wage-theft\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This omission was concerning, he said, because the Labor Commissioner’s Office is severely understaffed and has limited enforcement capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most important part of the law is enforcement, following up,” said Gould, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. “You’ve got to actually go to the facilities and talk to the workers to see whether the statements made by the company jive with what is happening to the workers in the workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants agreed to send checks to the Labor Commissioner’s Office within five days of the execution of the settlement, which was signed by company representatives last fall. The agency plans to distribute the funds to the affected janitors. But it will be difficult to locate many of the victims since seven to 10 years have elapsed since the date of the wage violations, said workers’ rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","stats":{"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"hasAudio":false,"hasPolis":false,"wordCount":967,"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"paragraphCount":24},"modified":1706030783,"excerpt":"The Cheesecake Factory and 2 janitorial contractors have paid $1 million in connection to a state wage theft investigation involving hundreds of workers who cleaned the company’s restaurants in San Diego and Orange counties. ","headData":{"twImgId":"","twTitle":"","ogTitle":"","ogImgId":"","twDescription":"","description":"The Cheesecake Factory and 2 janitorial contractors have paid $1 million in connection to a state wage theft investigation involving hundreds of workers who cleaned the company’s restaurants in San Diego and Orange counties. ","title":"The Cheesecake Factory Pays $750,000 in Connection to Wage Theft Case | KQED","ogDescription":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Cheesecake Factory Pays $750,000 in Connection to Wage Theft Case","datePublished":"2024-01-22T16:20:13-08:00","dateModified":"2024-01-23T09:26:23-08:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"the-cheesecake-factory-pays-750000-in-connection-to-wage-theft-case","status":"publish","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","sticky":false,"articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11973279/the-cheesecake-factory-pays-750000-in-connection-to-wage-theft-case","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Cheesecake Factory and two janitorial contractors have paid $1 million in connection to a state wage theft investigation involving hundreds of workers who cleaned the company’s restaurants in San Diego and Orange counties, KQED has learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower is expected to announce the settlement, deemed groundbreaking in the janitorial industry, Tuesday morning in San Diego.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘This sends a message to companies that they must ensure their contractors are operating legally and pay their workers properly. Otherwise, they are also going to be responsible for those violations.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"size":"medium","align":"right","citation":"Rafael Ventura, field director with the nonprofit Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">cited (PDF)\u003c/a> the popular restaurant chain, as well as Magic Touch Commercial Cleaning and Americlean Janitorial Services, for more than $4.5 million in 2018. State investigators uncovered minimum wage, overtime and other employment violations involving more than 550 janitors during a period from 2014 to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much wage theft,” said Rafael Ventura, field director with the nonprofit Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, which worked with dozens of victims to assist state regulators in pursuing the case. “This ensures that workers can recover the wages owed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most businesses with a workforce of 25 or more must share with their labor contractors civil liability for the payment of wages under a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB1897\">California law\u003c/a> that went into effect in 2015. The Cheesecake Factory case marks the first time a company pays money in connection to violations by a janitorial contractor in an industry where contracting and subcontracting are common, Ventura said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This sends a message to companies that they must ensure their contractors are operating legally and pay their workers properly,” he said. “Otherwise, they are also going to be responsible for those violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office found janitors were told to stay at restaurants after their eight-hour night shift until Cheesecake Factory kitchen managers reviewed their work, which generally added more tasks and accrued unpaid overtime hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, The Cheesecake Factory’s share of the total amount was $750,000. Contractor Americlean, which subcontracted work to Magic Touch, agreed to pay $200,000. Magic Touch managed the janitors directly and settled for $50,000, according to a copy of the deal obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naxhili Perez, who worked polishing floors at a location in San Diego’s Seaport District, said she was paid $70 a day but often worked longer than 10 hours. To make ends meet, the 41-year-old mom of four worked a second job cleaning homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez, a Mexican immigrant, admitted she didn’t initially realize her employer, Zulma Villegas of Magic Touch, was shorting her paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than five years after the wage theft citation, Perez said she wished more money had been recovered, given the large number of affected janitors. But she said she also understood the companies fought the charges, and regulators agreed to reduce the amount owed to finally resolve the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what they [regulators] were able to achieve because this was going to drag on,” said Perez in Spanish as she picked up her youngest child from school. “I am thankful to all the people that have helped us. If the Labor Commissioner hadn’t gotten involved, we’d all be in the same situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cheesecake Factory did not return requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the three defendants admitted they had engaged in any unlawful conduct in the settlement agreement. However, the two contractors apologized to the affected janitors through handwritten notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your rights as employees were violated when you worked for my company while cleaning the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants,” read the note from Villegas. “I am sorry that I did not fulfill all of my obligations under the law as an employer, some of which were out of my control and for any negative impact to your lives and families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americlean, a company with headquarters in Minneapolis doing business as Allied National Services, said it “could have overseen Magic Touch better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the future, we will take the necessary steps to comply with California law,” read the company’s statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement includes additional obligations for Cheesecake, such as training restaurant managers and corporate officers in California to oversee janitorial contracts and requiring future and renewed janitorial contractors to be subject to audits by the company on wage issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Gould, a professor at Stanford Law School described the settlement as a “modest one,” in part because it failed to include an independent monitor or another mechanism to ensure the company followed through on its promises.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"tag":"wage-theft","label":"More Related Stories "},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This omission was concerning, he said, because the Labor Commissioner’s Office is severely understaffed and has limited enforcement capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most important part of the law is enforcement, following up,” said Gould, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. “You’ve got to actually go to the facilities and talk to the workers to see whether the statements made by the company jive with what is happening to the workers in the workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants agreed to send checks to the Labor Commissioner’s Office within five days of the execution of the settlement, which was signed by company representatives last fall. The agency plans to distribute the funds to the affected janitors. But it will be difficult to locate many of the victims since seven to 10 years have elapsed since the date of the wage violations, said workers’ rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11973279/the-cheesecake-factory-pays-750000-in-connection-to-wage-theft-case","authors":["8659"],"categories":["news_31795","news_6188","news_28250","news_8"],"tags":["news_33755","news_27626","news_18208"],"featImg":"news_11973283","label":"news"},"news_11957505":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11957505","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11957505","score":null,"sort":[1694516454000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"campesinos-denunciaron-a-un-vinedo-por-abusos-laborales-y-ganaron","title":"Cómo un grupo de campesinos denunció a un viñedo por abusos laborales y ganó","publishDate":1694516454,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Cómo un grupo de campesinos denunció a un viñedo por abusos laborales y ganó | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">\u003cem>Read in English\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauritson Farms Inc. en el condado de Sonoma pagará 328 mil 077 dólares a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">21 de sus ex empleados\u003c/a> como parte de un \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23885712/settlement-agreement-june-2023.pdf\">acuerdo legal\u003c/a> con la Junta de Relaciones Laborales Agrícolas de California (ALRB, por sus siglas en inglés), el mayor acuerdo monetario que se ha visto en la oficina de Santa Rosa de esta dependencia. Funcionarios de la ALRB, junto con decenas de activistas laborales y trabajadores agrícolas, anunciaron el acuerdo en una conferencia de prensa el lunes 24 de julio de 2023 en Healdsburg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauritson Farms Inc, que gestiona los viñedos, es una empresa independiente y distinta de Mauritson Wines. Ambas empresas son propiedad de la familia Mauritson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tras una investigación impulsada por las quejas de los trabajadores agrícolas, los funcionarios del ALRB determinaron que Mauritson Farms tomó represalias contra el equipo entero de antiguos empleados porque algunos de ellos se organizaron a finales de la temporada de cultivo de 2021 para denunciar las condiciones de trabajo inseguras en los viñedos de Mauritson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Debemos reconocer que se trata de una victoria iniciada por los trabajadores para defender no sólo sus derechos, sino también su dignidad”, dijo el activista Davin Cárdenas en una conferencia que se llevó a cabo el pasado 24 de julio. Cárdenas es el director de la organización North Bay Jobs With Justice (NBJWJ, por sus siglas en inglés), un grupo de derechos laborales que apoyó a los trabajadores en su denuncia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Se trata de un caso que establece un precedente para otros trabajadores de la región”, afirmó Cárdenas.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Miguel Ángel Bravo Silva, uno de los seis trabajadores que denunciaron el trato recibido en Mauritson\"]‘Después de tantos abusos, creo que es justo que se respeten nuestros derechos y se nos respete por lo que somos.’[/pullquote]Los trabajadores implicados eran inmigrantes mexicanos, originarios del estado de Oaxaca, y se encontraban en los Estados Unidos con la visa H-2A, que permite a los trabajadores agrícolas permanecer en el país por períodos limitados.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED r\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">eportó por vez primera el año pasado\u003c/a> que ninguno de los trabajadores oaxaqueños que denunciaron los hechos en 2021 fueron recontratados para la temporada de cultivo de 2022, pese a las promesas que hizo la dirección de la empresa. En su denuncia presentada contra Mauritson el pasado mes de marzo, el ALRB \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23885711/alrb-complaint-march-2023.pdf\">determinó que el hecho de que Mauritson no volviera a contratar a estos trabajadores representa una violación de sus derechos laborales\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cuando recibí la noticia, agradecí a Dios que se ganó porque no fue nada fácil. Teníamos mucho miedo de hablar. Fue un proceso complicado, pero hay que quitarse ese miedo”, dijo Martín Sandoval Rivera, uno de los trabajadores que denunció las condiciones en Mauritson Farms. Actualmente se encuentra en Oaxaca, con varios trabajos para mantener a su familia.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nSandoval Rivera y sus compañeros dijeron que sufrieron acoso verbal por parte de su supervisor, que se les negó sombra mientras trabajaban en los campos cuando las temperaturas superaban los 90 grados Fahrenheit (equivalente a 32 centígrados) y que no recibieron sus períodos de descanso y almuerzo en algunas ocasiones. Todo esto viola las regulaciones laborales de California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seis de los trabajadores, incluido Sandoval Rivera, buscaron el apoyo del grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ para mediar en la situación. NBJWJ organizó una reunión con los trabajadores y los directivos de la empresa en octubre de 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En esa reunión, el director del viñedo, Cameron Mauritson, prometió que las condiciones en los campos mejorarían y \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">aseguró a los trabajadores que volvería a contratarlos en 2022\u003c/a>, aliviando así la mayor preocupación de los trabajadores: que se les fuera a negar empleo en el futuro por haber pedido mejoras laborales. Después de esa plática, Mauritson Farms, que según los trabajadores previamente gestionaba el proceso de contratación a través de las redes sociales, contrató a CIERTO Global, una empresa multinacional que busca mano de obra en el extranjero para el sector agrícola de Estados Unidos.[aside postID=\"news_11919450\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/FarmworkersIlloVignet-1020x659-1.jpg\"]Mauritson Farms pide a CIERTO Global que busque a trabajadores para la temporada de 2022, y por ende le cierra la puerta a los campesinos oaxaqueños. Según la denuncia del ALRB, para las empresas de cultivo de uva, CIERTO Global sólo recluta a trabajadores que viven en el estado mexicano de Baja California, no en Oaxaca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Además, las capturas de pantalla de un grupo de Facebook que los trabajadores oaxaqueños compartieron con KQED mostraron que los directivos de Mauritson compartieron información incorrecta sobre cómo debían ponerse en contacto los trabajadores con CIERTO para ser considerados para la temporada de 2022. Representantes de CIERTO confirmaron a KQED que esas instrucciones eran falsas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Estas instrucciones no reflejan nuestras prácticas con ninguno de los trabajadores a los que atendemos”, respondió por correo electrónico un representante de CIERTO. “Las instrucciones de Mauritson no fueron autorizadas ni difundidas por CIERTO”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuando los trabajadores se dieron cuenta de lo que estaba ocurriendo, alertaron al grupo NBJWJ. En febrero de 2022, los activistas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">presentaron una demanda ante el ALRB en nombre de los seis trabajadores que asistieron a la reunión con Mauritson\u003c/a>. Inicialmente, seis de ellos hablaron, pero en su investigación, el ALRB descubrió que Mauritson había tomado represalias contra todo la cuadrilla de 21 personas al que pertenecían los seis trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El acuerdo de 328 mil 077 dólares que beneficiará a los 21 trabajadores representa lo que los trabajadores perdieron en ingresos por haber sido excluidos de la temporada de 2022, según los cálculos del ALRB. Una audiencia con un juez ya había sido programada para finales de este verano, pero el acuerdo entre la empresa y el ALRB concluye este proceso.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En una declaración enviada por correo electrónico a KQED, Mauritson Farms declaró que “cree firmemente que [no estaba] en ninguna violación de la Ley de Relaciones Laborales Agrícolas (ALRA). Este acuerdo es estrictamente una decisión empresarial que nos permite resolver este asunto sin necesidad de más litigios”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957507 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS.jpg\" alt='Varias personas de distintas edades sostienen letreros con consignas. Algunos letreros dicen, \"La unión hace la fuerza\".' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Los trabajadores agrícolas Antonio Flores (izquierda) y su hijo Mateo, Rosalba Gutiérrez (centro) y Valentina Sosa (derecha) se sientan en la conferencia de prensa organizada por el grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ, donde se dio a conocer el acuerdo con Mauritson Farms en la plaza central de Healdsburg el lunes 24 de julio de 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Después de tantos abusos, creo que es justo que se respeten nuestros derechos y se nos respete por lo que somos”, dijo Miguel Ángel Bravo Silva, uno de los seis trabajadores que se reunieron con Mauritson. Durante el último año y medio, ha buscado cualquier trabajo en su comunidad rural de Oaxaca para mantener a su esposa y sus dos hijos y, al mismo tiempo, se ha mantenido en contacto con funcionarios del ALRB que investigaban la situación.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Durante meses, el ALRB trabajó para localizar a los 21 trabajadores que no fueron recontratados. Una vez finalizada la temporada de 2021, muchos regresaron a pueblos remotos de Oaxaca, donde el acceso al internet y la cobertura de telefonía móvil son extremadamente limitados y, para algunos, inexistentes. Localizar a la gente fue uno de los retos, dijo la directora regional de ALRB, Jessica Arciniega. El otro era establecer confianza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“En muchos casos, resulta difícil mantener la comunicación con los trabajadores”, explica. “Pueden no estar familiarizados con nuestro proceso, con nosotros como agencia gubernamental y con lo que realmente hacemos. Así que puede que no siempre se sientan 100% preparados o cómodos de compartir toda esta información”.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ana Salgado, antigua trabajadora agrícola y miembro de la junta de NBJWJ\"]‘Muchos [trabajadores H-2A] tienen miedo de perder la oportunidad que tienen \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">… \u003c/span> Pueden estar sufriendo muchos abusos, pero no quieren decir nada porque temen perder lo que consideran un privilegio.’[/pullquote]Los trabajadores no sólo temen sufrir más represalias del mismo empleador, sino que, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">como informó KQED el año pasado, muchos empleadores utilizan una red de reclutadores para impedir que los trabajadores que denuncian encuentren otro empleo en el futuro\u003c/a>. En ese mismo reportaje, KQED compartió la historia de Kevin y Samuel, dos ex empleados de Mauritson que estaban entre los seis que hicieron la primera denuncia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin y Samuel eran en realidad los alias de Sandoval Rivera y Bravo Silva, respectivamente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En aquel momento, ambos hombres tenían mucho miedo de las repercusiones que podría tener el compartir públicamente sus identidades durante la investigación del ALRB. A medida la investigación se hacía más larga, Sandoval Rivera sentía cada vez menos confianza en que hubiera una respuesta por parte de las autoridades, especialmente a medida que empeoraba la situación económica de su familia. “La necesidad te hace pensar muchas cosas”, dijo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sin embargo, él y Bravo Silva se alegran de haber esperado los resultados de la investigación y el acuerdo. Esto no sólo les beneficiará a ellos, dice Bravo Silva, “sino también a los trabajadores inmigrantes que ahora trabajan en esa empresa, para que se les respete más y no se sientan solos. Hay leyes que protegen a los trabajadores agrícolas”.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Celebrando una difícil victoria\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Con pancartas y carteles, muchos de ellos con la frase de Emiliano Zapata, como “La tierra es de quien la trabaja”, decenas de trabajadores agrícolas y activistas con NBJWJ llenaron parte de la plaza principal de Healdsburg para la conferencia de prensa que se realizó el pasado 24 de julio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ustedes representan a los trabajadores agrícolas que no pueden estar hoy aquí, pero cuya valentía nos ha dejado este legado, que luchando y encontrando aliados, los trabajadores podemos lograr muchas cosas”, dijo Ana Salgado, quien anteriormente era una trabajadora agrícola y ahora es una activista comunitaria y forma parte de la junta directiva de NBJWJ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957508 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally.jpg\" alt=\"Una mujer habla enfrente de una multitud. Muchos en la multitud sostienen letreros y pancartas con lemas de justicia labora.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Salgado (centro), ex trabajadora agrícola y miembro de la junta directiva de NBJWJ, habla en la rueda de prensa del lunes, 24 de julio de 2023, en la plaza central de Healdsburg. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A pocas calles de esa plaza se encuentra el centro comunitario donde Salgado conoció a varios de los hombres que entonces trabajaban para Mauritson. Recuerda las primeras conversaciones que mantuvo con los trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Miré a uno de ellos y vi la preocupación en su cara”, dijo, “tomé su mano y le dije ‘ya puedes abrirte, estás en un espacio seguro'”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tantos trabajadores que tienen la visa H-2A temen perder la oportunidad que tienen porque los empleadores les dicen que es un privilegio ser traídos de México con una visa”, explicó. “Pueden estar sufriendo muchos abusos, pero no quieren decir nada porque tienen miedo de perder lo que consideran un privilegio”.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Leyes que no se cumplen’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>El programa de visados H-2A es el sucesor del Programa Bracero, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers\">que trajo trabajadores mexicanos a los campos agrícolas de Estados Unidos durante la década de 1940\u003c/a>. El actual sistema H-2A ahora trae a trabajadores de todo el mundo para trabajar en Estados Unidos y, como parte del programa, los empleadores deben proporcionar alojamiento, transporte y comidas, lo que da a las empresas un increíble poder sobre la vida personal de sus trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y al igual que el Programa Bracero, \u003ca href=\"https://prismreports.org/2023/04/14/h2a-visa-wage-theft-exploitation/\">el sistema H-2A está plagado de robo de salarios, abuso físico y mental a los empleados, y represalias por parte de los empleadores hacia los trabajadores que denuncian\u003c/a> las condiciones laborales, esto según una investigación de 18 meses publicada en abril por las agencias de noticias Prism, Futuro Investigates y Latino USA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957509 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally.jpg\" alt=\"Un hombre da un discurso ante una multitud. Muchos de los asistentes sostienen pancartas con consignas de protesta. El grupo se encuentra en un parque.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davin Cárdenas, director del grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ, habla en la rueda de prensa del 24 de agosto en la plaza central de Healdsburg. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tanto el gobierno federal como el de California han reforzado sus leyes laborales desde la década de 1940, así que ¿por qué persiste el abuso de los trabajadores H-2A?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Una de las razones es que las dependencias regulatorias necesitan más personal y recursos para hacer cumplir las normas laborales, dice Josephine Weinberg, abogada de California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA, por sus siglas en inglés), un bufete de abogados sin fines de lucro que representa a campesinos que han sufrido represalias y abusos en el lugar de trabajo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Contamos con las dependencias. Contamos con normas. Pero faltan los mecanismos para hacer cumplir las leyes y monitorear los campos. Así que lo que nos toca no es más que leyes simbólicas'”, dijo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aproximadamente 1 de cada 3 puestos sigue vacante en la Oficina del Comisionado Laboral de California, uno de los organismos encargados de investigar el robo de sueldos y las represalias en todas las industrias en el estado. La escasez de empleados en esta dependencia deja al personal actual sobrecargado de casos, lo que significa que quienes presentan una denuncia a menudo tienen que esperar años para obtener un resultado. Decenas de empleados de esta agencia mandaron una carta a legisladores estatales a principios de julio, argumentando que ellos están “fracasando en nuestra misión si no podemos contratar y retener al personal necesario”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En el ALRB, la directora regional Jessica Arciniega señala que su agencia tiene cinco oficinas repartidas por varias regiones agrícolas del estado, “pero California es un estado inmenso y hay muchos trabajadores agrícolas en todo el estado”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No tenemos oficinas en todas las regiones agrícolas”, dice, “así que hacemos lo que podemos en este enorme estado para cubrir dondequiera que estén los trabajadores”. Añade que el departamento colabora estrechamente con organizaciones comunitarias y sindicales, como NBJWJ, para conectar con más obreros.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pero activistas laborales insisten en que hay que hacer más para aplicar mejor las normas laborales y mejorar el programa H-2A en su conjunto. Weinberg, de CRLA, añade que los reguladores deben vigilar más de cerca los campos agrícolas, con visitas aleatorias durante la temporada de cultivo. Y por otro lado, los empleadores deben facilitar que las agencias y los grupos laborales hablen con los campesinos sin restricciones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La forma en que se diseñó el programa H-2A, en el que las empresas tienen un control directo sobre el alojamiento, el transporte, la situación migratoria e incluso la alimentación de sus empleados, dificulta enormemente que los trabajadores puedan hablar libremente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No tienen acceso a un lugar donde sientan que pueden hablar confidencialmente o de forma anónima sobre lo que está pasando”, dijo Weinberg.[aside label='Más en español' tag='kqed-en-espanol']El 19 de julio, el gobernador Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956315/some-migrant-farmworkers-to-get-free-legal-help-with-immigration\">anunció un programa piloto de 4.5 millones de dólares para proporcionar servicios legales gratuitos de inmigración a los trabajadores agrícolas que están involucrados en investigaciones laborales estatales\u003c/a>. Esto incluiría servicios de revisión de casos, asesoramiento jurídico y representación por un abogado a los trabajadores en California que tienen un caso pendiente ya sea con el ALRB, la Oficina del Comisionado Laboral o Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El objetivo de este programa, según los funcionarios, es abordar uno de los temores que impiden a los empleados hablar, que es el miedo a perder su visado o a no volver a ser contratado, poniéndolos en contacto con expertos en inmigración que podrían ayudarles a encontrar formas de permanecer en este país. Y a principios de este año, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11941448/que-es-el-programa-de-accion-diferida-de-la-administracion-biden-para-trabajadores-indocumentados\">el gobierno del presidente Biden presentó una nueva y simplificada iniciativa de “acción diferida”\u003c/a> que permite a los trabajadores solicitar un permiso de trabajo y dos años de protección frente a la deportación si cooperan con una investigación sobre derechos laborales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pero, por encima de todo, afirma Salgado de NBJWJ, lo que realmente ayuda a la gente a sentirse con la seguridad de hablar es saber que hay casos en los que el sistema funciona a favor de los trabajadores. “Sin duda, el resultado del caso Mauritson, reafirma la fe entre nosotros, pero también la credibilidad del trabajo que hacemos cuando salimos a hablar con los trabajadores”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Nota del editor: La versión original de este reportaje describió de manera errónea a Mauritson Farms como una bodega vinícola, en vez de una empresa de viñedos. Este reportaje ha sido actualizado para aclarar la relación entre Mauritson Farms, Inc. y Mauritson Wines.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Este artículo incluye información de las periodistas Farida Jhabvala Romero y Tyche Hendricks, de KQED. Además fue traducido por \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mpena/\">María Peña\u003c/a> y editado por \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ccabreralomeli\">Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"El viñedo Mauritson Farms Inc. ubicado en California, pagará $328,077 a 21 de sus ex empleados, quienes trabajaron por varios años por este empleador con una visa H-2A y reportaron faltas a sus derechos laborales.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1721146013,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":43,"wordCount":3143},"headData":{"title":"Cómo un grupo de campesinos denunció a un viñedo por abusos laborales y ganó | KQED","description":"El viñedo Mauritson Farms Inc. ubicado en California, pagará $328,077 a 21 de sus ex empleados, quienes trabajaron por varios años por este empleador con una visa H-2A y reportaron faltas a sus derechos laborales.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Cómo un grupo de campesinos denunció a un viñedo por abusos laborales y ganó","datePublished":"2023-09-12T04:00:54-07:00","dateModified":"2024-07-16T09:06:53-07:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"source":"KQED en Español","sourceUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/kqedenespanol","audioUrl":"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/4479236b-6b94-45b8-aea6-b05301139438/audio.mp3","sticky":false,"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11957505/campesinos-denunciaron-a-un-vinedo-por-abusos-laborales-y-ganaron","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">\u003cem>Read in English\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauritson Farms Inc. en el condado de Sonoma pagará 328 mil 077 dólares a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">21 de sus ex empleados\u003c/a> como parte de un \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23885712/settlement-agreement-june-2023.pdf\">acuerdo legal\u003c/a> con la Junta de Relaciones Laborales Agrícolas de California (ALRB, por sus siglas en inglés), el mayor acuerdo monetario que se ha visto en la oficina de Santa Rosa de esta dependencia. Funcionarios de la ALRB, junto con decenas de activistas laborales y trabajadores agrícolas, anunciaron el acuerdo en una conferencia de prensa el lunes 24 de julio de 2023 en Healdsburg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauritson Farms Inc, que gestiona los viñedos, es una empresa independiente y distinta de Mauritson Wines. Ambas empresas son propiedad de la familia Mauritson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tras una investigación impulsada por las quejas de los trabajadores agrícolas, los funcionarios del ALRB determinaron que Mauritson Farms tomó represalias contra el equipo entero de antiguos empleados porque algunos de ellos se organizaron a finales de la temporada de cultivo de 2021 para denunciar las condiciones de trabajo inseguras en los viñedos de Mauritson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Debemos reconocer que se trata de una victoria iniciada por los trabajadores para defender no sólo sus derechos, sino también su dignidad”, dijo el activista Davin Cárdenas en una conferencia que se llevó a cabo el pasado 24 de julio. Cárdenas es el director de la organización North Bay Jobs With Justice (NBJWJ, por sus siglas en inglés), un grupo de derechos laborales que apoyó a los trabajadores en su denuncia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Se trata de un caso que establece un precedente para otros trabajadores de la región”, afirmó Cárdenas.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘Después de tantos abusos, creo que es justo que se respeten nuestros derechos y se nos respete por lo que somos.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"medium","citation":"Miguel Ángel Bravo Silva, uno de los seis trabajadores que denunciaron el trato recibido en Mauritson","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Los trabajadores implicados eran inmigrantes mexicanos, originarios del estado de Oaxaca, y se encontraban en los Estados Unidos con la visa H-2A, que permite a los trabajadores agrícolas permanecer en el país por períodos limitados.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED r\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">eportó por vez primera el año pasado\u003c/a> que ninguno de los trabajadores oaxaqueños que denunciaron los hechos en 2021 fueron recontratados para la temporada de cultivo de 2022, pese a las promesas que hizo la dirección de la empresa. En su denuncia presentada contra Mauritson el pasado mes de marzo, el ALRB \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23885711/alrb-complaint-march-2023.pdf\">determinó que el hecho de que Mauritson no volviera a contratar a estos trabajadores representa una violación de sus derechos laborales\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cuando recibí la noticia, agradecí a Dios que se ganó porque no fue nada fácil. Teníamos mucho miedo de hablar. Fue un proceso complicado, pero hay que quitarse ese miedo”, dijo Martín Sandoval Rivera, uno de los trabajadores que denunció las condiciones en Mauritson Farms. Actualmente se encuentra en Oaxaca, con varios trabajos para mantener a su familia.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nSandoval Rivera y sus compañeros dijeron que sufrieron acoso verbal por parte de su supervisor, que se les negó sombra mientras trabajaban en los campos cuando las temperaturas superaban los 90 grados Fahrenheit (equivalente a 32 centígrados) y que no recibieron sus períodos de descanso y almuerzo en algunas ocasiones. Todo esto viola las regulaciones laborales de California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seis de los trabajadores, incluido Sandoval Rivera, buscaron el apoyo del grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ para mediar en la situación. NBJWJ organizó una reunión con los trabajadores y los directivos de la empresa en octubre de 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En esa reunión, el director del viñedo, Cameron Mauritson, prometió que las condiciones en los campos mejorarían y \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">aseguró a los trabajadores que volvería a contratarlos en 2022\u003c/a>, aliviando así la mayor preocupación de los trabajadores: que se les fuera a negar empleo en el futuro por haber pedido mejoras laborales. Después de esa plática, Mauritson Farms, que según los trabajadores previamente gestionaba el proceso de contratación a través de las redes sociales, contrató a CIERTO Global, una empresa multinacional que busca mano de obra en el extranjero para el sector agrícola de Estados Unidos.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"postid":"news_11919450","hero":"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/FarmworkersIlloVignet-1020x659-1.jpg","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Mauritson Farms pide a CIERTO Global que busque a trabajadores para la temporada de 2022, y por ende le cierra la puerta a los campesinos oaxaqueños. Según la denuncia del ALRB, para las empresas de cultivo de uva, CIERTO Global sólo recluta a trabajadores que viven en el estado mexicano de Baja California, no en Oaxaca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Además, las capturas de pantalla de un grupo de Facebook que los trabajadores oaxaqueños compartieron con KQED mostraron que los directivos de Mauritson compartieron información incorrecta sobre cómo debían ponerse en contacto los trabajadores con CIERTO para ser considerados para la temporada de 2022. Representantes de CIERTO confirmaron a KQED que esas instrucciones eran falsas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Estas instrucciones no reflejan nuestras prácticas con ninguno de los trabajadores a los que atendemos”, respondió por correo electrónico un representante de CIERTO. “Las instrucciones de Mauritson no fueron autorizadas ni difundidas por CIERTO”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuando los trabajadores se dieron cuenta de lo que estaba ocurriendo, alertaron al grupo NBJWJ. En febrero de 2022, los activistas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">presentaron una demanda ante el ALRB en nombre de los seis trabajadores que asistieron a la reunión con Mauritson\u003c/a>. Inicialmente, seis de ellos hablaron, pero en su investigación, el ALRB descubrió que Mauritson había tomado represalias contra todo la cuadrilla de 21 personas al que pertenecían los seis trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El acuerdo de 328 mil 077 dólares que beneficiará a los 21 trabajadores representa lo que los trabajadores perdieron en ingresos por haber sido excluidos de la temporada de 2022, según los cálculos del ALRB. Una audiencia con un juez ya había sido programada para finales de este verano, pero el acuerdo entre la empresa y el ALRB concluye este proceso.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En una declaración enviada por correo electrónico a KQED, Mauritson Farms declaró que “cree firmemente que [no estaba] en ninguna violación de la Ley de Relaciones Laborales Agrícolas (ALRA). Este acuerdo es estrictamente una decisión empresarial que nos permite resolver este asunto sin necesidad de más litigios”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957507 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS.jpg\" alt='Varias personas de distintas edades sostienen letreros con consignas. Algunos letreros dicen, \"La unión hace la fuerza\".' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/LA-UNION-HACE-LA-FUERZA-BANNERS-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Los trabajadores agrícolas Antonio Flores (izquierda) y su hijo Mateo, Rosalba Gutiérrez (centro) y Valentina Sosa (derecha) se sientan en la conferencia de prensa organizada por el grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ, donde se dio a conocer el acuerdo con Mauritson Farms en la plaza central de Healdsburg el lunes 24 de julio de 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Después de tantos abusos, creo que es justo que se respeten nuestros derechos y se nos respete por lo que somos”, dijo Miguel Ángel Bravo Silva, uno de los seis trabajadores que se reunieron con Mauritson. Durante el último año y medio, ha buscado cualquier trabajo en su comunidad rural de Oaxaca para mantener a su esposa y sus dos hijos y, al mismo tiempo, se ha mantenido en contacto con funcionarios del ALRB que investigaban la situación.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Durante meses, el ALRB trabajó para localizar a los 21 trabajadores que no fueron recontratados. Una vez finalizada la temporada de 2021, muchos regresaron a pueblos remotos de Oaxaca, donde el acceso al internet y la cobertura de telefonía móvil son extremadamente limitados y, para algunos, inexistentes. Localizar a la gente fue uno de los retos, dijo la directora regional de ALRB, Jessica Arciniega. El otro era establecer confianza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“En muchos casos, resulta difícil mantener la comunicación con los trabajadores”, explica. “Pueden no estar familiarizados con nuestro proceso, con nosotros como agencia gubernamental y con lo que realmente hacemos. Así que puede que no siempre se sientan 100% preparados o cómodos de compartir toda esta información”.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"‘Muchos [trabajadores H-2A] tienen miedo de perder la oportunidad que tienen \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">… \u003c/span> Pueden estar sufriendo muchos abusos, pero no quieren decir nada porque temen perder lo que consideran un privilegio.’","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"align":"right","size":"medium","citation":"Ana Salgado, antigua trabajadora agrícola y miembro de la junta de NBJWJ","label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Los trabajadores no sólo temen sufrir más represalias del mismo empleador, sino que, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11919450/trabajar-con-una-visa-h-2a-en-estados-unidos-represalias-derechos\">como informó KQED el año pasado, muchos empleadores utilizan una red de reclutadores para impedir que los trabajadores que denuncian encuentren otro empleo en el futuro\u003c/a>. En ese mismo reportaje, KQED compartió la historia de Kevin y Samuel, dos ex empleados de Mauritson que estaban entre los seis que hicieron la primera denuncia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin y Samuel eran en realidad los alias de Sandoval Rivera y Bravo Silva, respectivamente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En aquel momento, ambos hombres tenían mucho miedo de las repercusiones que podría tener el compartir públicamente sus identidades durante la investigación del ALRB. A medida la investigación se hacía más larga, Sandoval Rivera sentía cada vez menos confianza en que hubiera una respuesta por parte de las autoridades, especialmente a medida que empeoraba la situación económica de su familia. “La necesidad te hace pensar muchas cosas”, dijo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sin embargo, él y Bravo Silva se alegran de haber esperado los resultados de la investigación y el acuerdo. Esto no sólo les beneficiará a ellos, dice Bravo Silva, “sino también a los trabajadores inmigrantes que ahora trabajan en esa empresa, para que se les respete más y no se sientan solos. Hay leyes que protegen a los trabajadores agrícolas”.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Celebrando una difícil victoria\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Con pancartas y carteles, muchos de ellos con la frase de Emiliano Zapata, como “La tierra es de quien la trabaja”, decenas de trabajadores agrícolas y activistas con NBJWJ llenaron parte de la plaza principal de Healdsburg para la conferencia de prensa que se realizó el pasado 24 de julio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ustedes representan a los trabajadores agrícolas que no pueden estar hoy aquí, pero cuya valentía nos ha dejado este legado, que luchando y encontrando aliados, los trabajadores podemos lograr muchas cosas”, dijo Ana Salgado, quien anteriormente era una trabajadora agrícola y ahora es una activista comunitaria y forma parte de la junta directiva de NBJWJ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957508 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally.jpg\" alt=\"Una mujer habla enfrente de una multitud. Muchos en la multitud sostienen letreros y pancartas con lemas de justicia labora.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/healdsburg-plaza-farm-workers-rally-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Salgado (centro), ex trabajadora agrícola y miembro de la junta directiva de NBJWJ, habla en la rueda de prensa del lunes, 24 de julio de 2023, en la plaza central de Healdsburg. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A pocas calles de esa plaza se encuentra el centro comunitario donde Salgado conoció a varios de los hombres que entonces trabajaban para Mauritson. Recuerda las primeras conversaciones que mantuvo con los trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Miré a uno de ellos y vi la preocupación en su cara”, dijo, “tomé su mano y le dije ‘ya puedes abrirte, estás en un espacio seguro'”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tantos trabajadores que tienen la visa H-2A temen perder la oportunidad que tienen porque los empleadores les dicen que es un privilegio ser traídos de México con una visa”, explicó. “Pueden estar sufriendo muchos abusos, pero no quieren decir nada porque tienen miedo de perder lo que consideran un privilegio”.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>‘Leyes que no se cumplen’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>El programa de visados H-2A es el sucesor del Programa Bracero, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers\">que trajo trabajadores mexicanos a los campos agrícolas de Estados Unidos durante la década de 1940\u003c/a>. El actual sistema H-2A ahora trae a trabajadores de todo el mundo para trabajar en Estados Unidos y, como parte del programa, los empleadores deben proporcionar alojamiento, transporte y comidas, lo que da a las empresas un increíble poder sobre la vida personal de sus trabajadores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Y al igual que el Programa Bracero, \u003ca href=\"https://prismreports.org/2023/04/14/h2a-visa-wage-theft-exploitation/\">el sistema H-2A está plagado de robo de salarios, abuso físico y mental a los empleados, y represalias por parte de los empleadores hacia los trabajadores que denuncian\u003c/a> las condiciones laborales, esto según una investigación de 18 meses publicada en abril por las agencias de noticias Prism, Futuro Investigates y Latino USA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11957509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11957509 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally.jpg\" alt=\"Un hombre da un discurso ante una multitud. Muchos de los asistentes sostienen pancartas con consignas de protesta. El grupo se encuentra en un parque.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/davin-cardenas-with-migrant-workers-at-rally-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davin Cárdenas, director del grupo de derechos laborales NBJWJ, habla en la rueda de prensa del 24 de agosto en la plaza central de Healdsburg. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tanto el gobierno federal como el de California han reforzado sus leyes laborales desde la década de 1940, así que ¿por qué persiste el abuso de los trabajadores H-2A?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Una de las razones es que las dependencias regulatorias necesitan más personal y recursos para hacer cumplir las normas laborales, dice Josephine Weinberg, abogada de California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA, por sus siglas en inglés), un bufete de abogados sin fines de lucro que representa a campesinos que han sufrido represalias y abusos en el lugar de trabajo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Contamos con las dependencias. Contamos con normas. Pero faltan los mecanismos para hacer cumplir las leyes y monitorear los campos. Así que lo que nos toca no es más que leyes simbólicas'”, dijo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aproximadamente 1 de cada 3 puestos sigue vacante en la Oficina del Comisionado Laboral de California, uno de los organismos encargados de investigar el robo de sueldos y las represalias en todas las industrias en el estado. La escasez de empleados en esta dependencia deja al personal actual sobrecargado de casos, lo que significa que quienes presentan una denuncia a menudo tienen que esperar años para obtener un resultado. Decenas de empleados de esta agencia mandaron una carta a legisladores estatales a principios de julio, argumentando que ellos están “fracasando en nuestra misión si no podemos contratar y retener al personal necesario”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>En el ALRB, la directora regional Jessica Arciniega señala que su agencia tiene cinco oficinas repartidas por varias regiones agrícolas del estado, “pero California es un estado inmenso y hay muchos trabajadores agrícolas en todo el estado”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No tenemos oficinas en todas las regiones agrícolas”, dice, “así que hacemos lo que podemos en este enorme estado para cubrir dondequiera que estén los trabajadores”. Añade que el departamento colabora estrechamente con organizaciones comunitarias y sindicales, como NBJWJ, para conectar con más obreros.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pero activistas laborales insisten en que hay que hacer más para aplicar mejor las normas laborales y mejorar el programa H-2A en su conjunto. Weinberg, de CRLA, añade que los reguladores deben vigilar más de cerca los campos agrícolas, con visitas aleatorias durante la temporada de cultivo. Y por otro lado, los empleadores deben facilitar que las agencias y los grupos laborales hablen con los campesinos sin restricciones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La forma en que se diseñó el programa H-2A, en el que las empresas tienen un control directo sobre el alojamiento, el transporte, la situación migratoria e incluso la alimentación de sus empleados, dificulta enormemente que los trabajadores puedan hablar libremente.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No tienen acceso a un lugar donde sientan que pueden hablar confidencialmente o de forma anónima sobre lo que está pasando”, dijo Weinberg.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"aside","attributes":{"named":{"label":"Más en español ","tag":"kqed-en-espanol"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>El 19 de julio, el gobernador Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956315/some-migrant-farmworkers-to-get-free-legal-help-with-immigration\">anunció un programa piloto de 4.5 millones de dólares para proporcionar servicios legales gratuitos de inmigración a los trabajadores agrícolas que están involucrados en investigaciones laborales estatales\u003c/a>. Esto incluiría servicios de revisión de casos, asesoramiento jurídico y representación por un abogado a los trabajadores en California que tienen un caso pendiente ya sea con el ALRB, la Oficina del Comisionado Laboral o Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El objetivo de este programa, según los funcionarios, es abordar uno de los temores que impiden a los empleados hablar, que es el miedo a perder su visado o a no volver a ser contratado, poniéndolos en contacto con expertos en inmigración que podrían ayudarles a encontrar formas de permanecer en este país. Y a principios de este año, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11941448/que-es-el-programa-de-accion-diferida-de-la-administracion-biden-para-trabajadores-indocumentados\">el gobierno del presidente Biden presentó una nueva y simplificada iniciativa de “acción diferida”\u003c/a> que permite a los trabajadores solicitar un permiso de trabajo y dos años de protección frente a la deportación si cooperan con una investigación sobre derechos laborales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pero, por encima de todo, afirma Salgado de NBJWJ, lo que realmente ayuda a la gente a sentirse con la seguridad de hablar es saber que hay casos en los que el sistema funciona a favor de los trabajadores. “Sin duda, el resultado del caso Mauritson, reafirma la fe entre nosotros, pero también la credibilidad del trabajo que hacemos cuando salimos a hablar con los trabajadores”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Nota del editor: La versión original de este reportaje describió de manera errónea a Mauritson Farms como una bodega vinícola, en vez de una empresa de viñedos. Este reportaje ha sido actualizado para aclarar la relación entre Mauritson Farms, Inc. y Mauritson Wines.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Este artículo incluye información de las periodistas Farida Jhabvala Romero y Tyche Hendricks, de KQED. Además fue traducido por \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mpena/\">María Peña\u003c/a> y editado por \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ccabreralomeli\">Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11957505/campesinos-denunciaron-a-un-vinedo-por-abusos-laborales-y-ganaron","authors":["11708"],"categories":["news_31795","news_1169","news_28523"],"tags":["news_28586","news_18269","news_4338","news_32889","news_20202","news_27775","news_28444","news_19904","news_29865","news_31269","news_31275","news_4981","news_244","news_31320","news_18208"],"featImg":"news_11957506","label":"source_news_11957505"},"news_11960459":{"type":"posts","id":"news_11960459","meta":{"index":"posts_1716263798","site":"news","id":"11960459","score":null,"sort":[1694426423000]},"parent":0,"labelTerm":{},"blocks":[],"publishDate":1694426423,"format":"audio","title":"How Santa Clara County is Fighting Wage Theft","headTitle":"How Santa Clara County is Fighting Wage Theft | KQED","content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California faces a big problem in labor law enforcement: when businesses are found to have committed wage theft, many \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">still \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">don’t pay workers what they’re owed. KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero tells us how Santa Clara County is implementing a local solution to this statewide issue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"card card--enclosed grey\">\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">[iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”200″ scrolling=”no” src=”https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6137013080&light=true” width=”100%”/iframe\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. You would think – hope, even – that if you were a victim of wage theft, that there’s a process in place to help you get what you’re owed. And there is a state agency in California set up for that. It’s just the process doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>There’s only 13 people in the whole state dedicated to helping thousands of these low income workers try to recover that money that the state found their due.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Many businesses that have committed wage theft are often able to avoid settling that debt in California. That’s why officials in Santa Clara County have implemented a local solution to this problem by pushing some local businesses to pay up or lose their right to operate today. How one Bay Area County is helping put money back in the hands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>So I went to downtown Gilroy and it was a couple of months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Farida Jhabvala Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>It was really hot and super sunny, and I met a group of people who were doing outreach work, partnering with the County of Santa Clara to educate food businesses in that area about their responsibilities as employers. And one of them was Melissa Sanchez. I have a.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>For sure for you here to give to the owner, if you don’t mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>She would go into businesses and they would, like start chatting. They’re just trying to tell people what’s going on and also let them know about a county program called the Food Permit Enforcement Program and delivering pamphlets about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Sanchez: \u003c/strong>And your name again? I’m sorry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ricardo Rivas: \u003c/strong>My name is Ricardo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Sanchez: \u003c/strong>Oh, hi, Ricardo. I’m Melissa. Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>One of the people she met was Ricardo Rivas. He’s the manager of a restaurant called Tempo Kitchen and Bar. And Ricardo ended up saying he was very interested in attending the the free training and that he wanted to make sure that the restaurant was treating workers fairly. And then he got information about the food permit wage theft enforcement program as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ricardo Rivas: \u003c/strong>There’s so many different things involved with between state and county and federal laws, especially as far as labor goes. So being able to stay compliant with it, ensure that we are treating our workers here fairly and accordance to the law is definitely a major importance for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So Melissa and the people that you were out there following were really out there trying to reach out to business owners about this program in Santa Clara County. Before we dig into it, what is the problem that this program is trying to solve?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>The county started this program because they’re putting some resources down to try to stem labor violations like wage theft, which is when workers are not paid what they’re owed under the law, like meal and rest breaks and overtime, minimum wage. There’s a state agency that investigates those cases When workers complain, it’s called the labor commissioner’s office. There is a list of cases where the Labor commissioner’s office has found that the worker is owed wages by an employer. But many times workers end up not getting any of that money paid. Statewide, the Labor commissioner’s office told us that there are more than 6500 of these cases of people with unpaid judgments that remain open, totaling more than $85 million. And this process, Ericka, can sometimes take years. The state has a very tiny department. It’s called the Judgment Enforcement Unit. They focused on helping low income workers get money back. They’re super understaffed. They said there were 22 positions statewide and only 13 were filled. That means there’s only 13 people in the whole state dedicated to helping thousands of low income workers try to recover that money. People who don’t want to pay will often move money around or put it in somebody else’s name. Close the business, declare bankruptcy. You know, it can be a really long, you know, process. So a lot of people end up just, you know, never seeing that money ever again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>This has been a problem that a lot of people have been talking about in Santa Clara County. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Workers rights advocates in the county have been pushing for years to get more local city and county governments involved. The way they see it, as often, there aren’t enough consequences when businesses are found to owe workers wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>I believe it’s a business model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Ruth Silver Taube is an attorney who coordinates the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>There’s a subset of businesses that just don’t want to pay these judgments because they want to make more money for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>So these worker advocates, like they’ve been pushing for more local consequences for businesses who have these unpaid judgments with the labor commissioner’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>We do need more enforcement that that to me, is a huge problem because even if you win, it doesn’t matter. The worker needs that money. We need that money in the worker’s pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What role exactly is the county playing in this and what are they doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>What the county does is they regularly get a list of all these businesses in the states with unpaid judgments. Then they figure out which ones are food businesses with permits in the county. They target the person named in the in the actual judgment. Then they’ll send the business a letter. And if the business doesn’t respond in 45 days, the county can take their permit to operate away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jessie Yu: \u003c/strong>The county focuses on food from its because we see a nexus between vulnerable worker populations and a large number of labor violations in the food retail industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Jesse Yu heads the county’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. The county is in charge of issuing these food permits. So the way they think about it is, well, the businesses need to comply with all the laws, and that includes making sure they don’t have any of these unpaid judgments, that they don’t owe money to the state or workers in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jessie Yu; \u003c/strong>That’s exactly kind of where we see we fit in is just really complementing and supporting the federal and state process. Because even though a judgment is issued, sometimes the business doesn’t pay. And so we’re hoping to leverage our food permits to ensure that payment happens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>It’s definitely a very different message when the county is threatening to revoke your permit to operate, you know, you would have to close your business if you don’t have this permit. And so it is creating more local consequences for for these businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>As I understand it, this program has actually been pretty successful, it seems like, at getting wages back into the hands of workers. I believe that the number is $125,000. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Yeah. They’ve said they’ve recovered $125,000 so far. It’s definitely, you know, nothing to sniff out, especially for the workers who were able to actually recover, you know, thousands of dollars on wages they were owed. I did get in touch with workers who got money after the food permit program got involved in their cases, but none of them wanted to speak publicly. You know, they did not want to be quoted because they didn’t want to be associated with a wage dispute. And, you know, sometimes their former employers in the same community had one worker tell me that their employer goes to her church. Businesses that paid these judgments after the food permit enforcement program sent them letters. You know, we’re in touch with them. They also didn’t want to be quoted or identified in the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Zooming out, Farida, I’m curious how unique a program like this is. The people who follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Labor enforcement nationally that I talked to said this was a pretty unique program in the sense that the county is actively trying to identify and reach out to businesses doing investigations of their own, sometimes into a business, and also having this big outreach component. So, you know, it sounds like Santa Clara is trying something new. I heard words like innovative, you know, like pretty unique. That’s how people describe the county’s work on this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Are there other cities that have tried to do something like this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Outside of Santa Clara, there’s other types of efforts I’ve seen. Like recently, San Diego County launched a new program called the Workplace Justice Fund. And so what the county is trying to do there is identifying workers who have these unpaid judgments in San Diego County. The county will front them up to $3,000 to help them stabilize financially. And at the same time, the county has its own collections agency, you know, with professional people who do this for a living, you know, And so they’ll take over the workers case, you know, and try to help them recover funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, what would it take to get something like this going on a larger scale for you to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>I think what would it would take is just counties elsewhere deciding that they they want to try this out. You know, our feeling that this is a big enough problem for them that they that they want to focus on it in this way. You know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Or a big enough priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Exactly. Like the situation of of having workers who’ve gone through this system that is supposed to, you know, help them and also help enforce labor laws. It has a bunch of impacts not just for the workers but for the state as well, because these workers are often really low income. They end up relying on food stamps and other programs that are supported with our tax dollars. Then the state also misses out on payroll taxes. And so it affects people in different ways. And then for the businesses, it’s unfair when a business is following the rules and then, you know, has to spend more money on their workforce following the law. And then they’re competing with businesses that are not doing that. And so it’s cheaper for them. So there’s also an issue of fairness. And leveling the playing field for for business owners is how the county and workers rights advocates and and the folks that are doing this outreach to businesses talk about this problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Why do you think this is happening now and in this place in particular, Santa Clara County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>This has been a years long push by people who want to see change on wage theft in this state. It’s the most populous county in the Bay Area. There has been a concerted push there, but also in other parts of the state to get local governments to use their authority to, you know, intervene in this problem, help the state with enforcement of labor laws and see some real change, you know, for for workers who who have been victims of wage theft. And then it also sends a really strong message to businesses in the county and employers that somebody is watching and that there are local consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Farida, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Farida Jhabvala Romero, a labor correspondent with KQED. This 30-minute conversation with Farida was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca. Alan Montecillo is our senior editor. He scored this episode and added all the tape. And if you haven’t already, please consider leaving The Bay a review on Apple Podcasts. For one, I really like reading them and also it helps other people find our show. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, see you next time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n","stats":{"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"hasAudio":false,"hasPolis":false,"wordCount":2334,"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"paragraphCount":5},"modified":1700689119,"excerpt":"California faces a big problem in labor law enforcement: when businesses are found to have committed wage theft, many still don’t pay workers what they’re owed.","headData":{"twImgId":"","twTitle":"","ogTitle":"","ogImgId":"","twDescription":"","description":"California faces a big problem in labor law enforcement: when businesses are found to have committed wage theft, many still don’t pay workers what they’re owed.","title":"How Santa Clara County is Fighting Wage Theft | KQED","ogDescription":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How Santa Clara County is Fighting Wage Theft","datePublished":"2023-09-11T03:00:23-07:00","dateModified":"2023-11-22T13:38:39-08:00","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png","isAccessibleForFree":"True","publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://www.kqed.org/#organization","name":"KQED","url":"https://www.kqed.org","logo":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}}},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"how-santa-clara-county-is-fighting-wage-theft","status":"publish","sourceUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/thebay","audioUrl":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/G6C7C3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC6137013080.mp3?updated=1694201161","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","source":"The Bay","articleAge":"0","path":"/news/11960459/how-santa-clara-county-is-fighting-wage-theft","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California faces a big problem in labor law enforcement: when businesses are found to have committed wage theft, many \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">still \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">don’t pay workers what they’re owed. KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero tells us how Santa Clara County is implementing a local solution to this statewide issue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"card card--enclosed grey\">\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">[iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”200″ scrolling=”no” src=”https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6137013080&light=true” width=”100%”/iframe\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. You would think – hope, even – that if you were a victim of wage theft, that there’s a process in place to help you get what you’re owed. And there is a state agency in California set up for that. It’s just the process doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>There’s only 13 people in the whole state dedicated to helping thousands of these low income workers try to recover that money that the state found their due.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Many businesses that have committed wage theft are often able to avoid settling that debt in California. That’s why officials in Santa Clara County have implemented a local solution to this problem by pushing some local businesses to pay up or lose their right to operate today. How one Bay Area County is helping put money back in the hands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>So I went to downtown Gilroy and it was a couple of months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Farida Jhabvala Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>It was really hot and super sunny, and I met a group of people who were doing outreach work, partnering with the County of Santa Clara to educate food businesses in that area about their responsibilities as employers. And one of them was Melissa Sanchez. I have a.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>For sure for you here to give to the owner, if you don’t mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>She would go into businesses and they would, like start chatting. They’re just trying to tell people what’s going on and also let them know about a county program called the Food Permit Enforcement Program and delivering pamphlets about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Sanchez: \u003c/strong>And your name again? I’m sorry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ricardo Rivas: \u003c/strong>My name is Ricardo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Melissa Sanchez: \u003c/strong>Oh, hi, Ricardo. I’m Melissa. Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>One of the people she met was Ricardo Rivas. He’s the manager of a restaurant called Tempo Kitchen and Bar. And Ricardo ended up saying he was very interested in attending the the free training and that he wanted to make sure that the restaurant was treating workers fairly. And then he got information about the food permit wage theft enforcement program as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ricardo Rivas: \u003c/strong>There’s so many different things involved with between state and county and federal laws, especially as far as labor goes. So being able to stay compliant with it, ensure that we are treating our workers here fairly and accordance to the law is definitely a major importance for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So Melissa and the people that you were out there following were really out there trying to reach out to business owners about this program in Santa Clara County. Before we dig into it, what is the problem that this program is trying to solve?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>The county started this program because they’re putting some resources down to try to stem labor violations like wage theft, which is when workers are not paid what they’re owed under the law, like meal and rest breaks and overtime, minimum wage. There’s a state agency that investigates those cases When workers complain, it’s called the labor commissioner’s office. There is a list of cases where the Labor commissioner’s office has found that the worker is owed wages by an employer. But many times workers end up not getting any of that money paid. Statewide, the Labor commissioner’s office told us that there are more than 6500 of these cases of people with unpaid judgments that remain open, totaling more than $85 million. And this process, Ericka, can sometimes take years. The state has a very tiny department. It’s called the Judgment Enforcement Unit. They focused on helping low income workers get money back. They’re super understaffed. They said there were 22 positions statewide and only 13 were filled. That means there’s only 13 people in the whole state dedicated to helping thousands of low income workers try to recover that money. People who don’t want to pay will often move money around or put it in somebody else’s name. Close the business, declare bankruptcy. You know, it can be a really long, you know, process. So a lot of people end up just, you know, never seeing that money ever again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>This has been a problem that a lot of people have been talking about in Santa Clara County. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Workers rights advocates in the county have been pushing for years to get more local city and county governments involved. The way they see it, as often, there aren’t enough consequences when businesses are found to owe workers wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>I believe it’s a business model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Ruth Silver Taube is an attorney who coordinates the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>There’s a subset of businesses that just don’t want to pay these judgments because they want to make more money for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>So these worker advocates, like they’ve been pushing for more local consequences for businesses who have these unpaid judgments with the labor commissioner’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ruth Silver Taube: \u003c/strong>We do need more enforcement that that to me, is a huge problem because even if you win, it doesn’t matter. The worker needs that money. We need that money in the worker’s pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What role exactly is the county playing in this and what are they doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>What the county does is they regularly get a list of all these businesses in the states with unpaid judgments. Then they figure out which ones are food businesses with permits in the county. They target the person named in the in the actual judgment. Then they’ll send the business a letter. And if the business doesn’t respond in 45 days, the county can take their permit to operate away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jessie Yu: \u003c/strong>The county focuses on food from its because we see a nexus between vulnerable worker populations and a large number of labor violations in the food retail industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Jesse Yu heads the county’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. The county is in charge of issuing these food permits. So the way they think about it is, well, the businesses need to comply with all the laws, and that includes making sure they don’t have any of these unpaid judgments, that they don’t owe money to the state or workers in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jessie Yu; \u003c/strong>That’s exactly kind of where we see we fit in is just really complementing and supporting the federal and state process. Because even though a judgment is issued, sometimes the business doesn’t pay. And so we’re hoping to leverage our food permits to ensure that payment happens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>It’s definitely a very different message when the county is threatening to revoke your permit to operate, you know, you would have to close your business if you don’t have this permit. And so it is creating more local consequences for for these businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>As I understand it, this program has actually been pretty successful, it seems like, at getting wages back into the hands of workers. I believe that the number is $125,000. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Yeah. They’ve said they’ve recovered $125,000 so far. It’s definitely, you know, nothing to sniff out, especially for the workers who were able to actually recover, you know, thousands of dollars on wages they were owed. I did get in touch with workers who got money after the food permit program got involved in their cases, but none of them wanted to speak publicly. You know, they did not want to be quoted because they didn’t want to be associated with a wage dispute. And, you know, sometimes their former employers in the same community had one worker tell me that their employer goes to her church. Businesses that paid these judgments after the food permit enforcement program sent them letters. You know, we’re in touch with them. They also didn’t want to be quoted or identified in the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Zooming out, Farida, I’m curious how unique a program like this is. The people who follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Labor enforcement nationally that I talked to said this was a pretty unique program in the sense that the county is actively trying to identify and reach out to businesses doing investigations of their own, sometimes into a business, and also having this big outreach component. So, you know, it sounds like Santa Clara is trying something new. I heard words like innovative, you know, like pretty unique. That’s how people describe the county’s work on this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Are there other cities that have tried to do something like this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Outside of Santa Clara, there’s other types of efforts I’ve seen. Like recently, San Diego County launched a new program called the Workplace Justice Fund. And so what the county is trying to do there is identifying workers who have these unpaid judgments in San Diego County. The county will front them up to $3,000 to help them stabilize financially. And at the same time, the county has its own collections agency, you know, with professional people who do this for a living, you know, And so they’ll take over the workers case, you know, and try to help them recover funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, what would it take to get something like this going on a larger scale for you to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>I think what would it would take is just counties elsewhere deciding that they they want to try this out. You know, our feeling that this is a big enough problem for them that they that they want to focus on it in this way. You know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Or a big enough priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Exactly. Like the situation of of having workers who’ve gone through this system that is supposed to, you know, help them and also help enforce labor laws. It has a bunch of impacts not just for the workers but for the state as well, because these workers are often really low income. They end up relying on food stamps and other programs that are supported with our tax dollars. Then the state also misses out on payroll taxes. And so it affects people in different ways. And then for the businesses, it’s unfair when a business is following the rules and then, you know, has to spend more money on their workforce following the law. And then they’re competing with businesses that are not doing that. And so it’s cheaper for them. So there’s also an issue of fairness. And leveling the playing field for for business owners is how the county and workers rights advocates and and the folks that are doing this outreach to businesses talk about this problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Why do you think this is happening now and in this place in particular, Santa Clara County?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>This has been a years long push by people who want to see change on wage theft in this state. It’s the most populous county in the Bay Area. There has been a concerted push there, but also in other parts of the state to get local governments to use their authority to, you know, intervene in this problem, help the state with enforcement of labor laws and see some real change, you know, for for workers who who have been victims of wage theft. And then it also sends a really strong message to businesses in the county and employers that somebody is watching and that there are local consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Farida, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Farida Jhabvala Romero, a labor correspondent with KQED. This 30-minute conversation with Farida was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca. Alan Montecillo is our senior editor. He scored this episode and added all the tape. And if you haven’t already, please consider leaving The Bay a review on Apple Podcasts. For one, I really like reading them and also it helps other people find our show. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, see you next time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/news/11960459/how-santa-clara-county-is-fighting-wage-theft","authors":["8654","8659","11802","11649"],"programs":["news_28779"],"categories":["news_8","news_33520"],"tags":["news_19904","news_22598","news_18208"],"featImg":"news_11958148","label":"source_news_11960459"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. 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