wage theft – RI Future

June 23, 2016June 24, 2016

Significant protections against wage theft passed

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After years of struggle the Rhode Island General Assembly under the leadership of Senator Donna Nesslebush, and Representative Joe Shekarchi have passed a bill that finally makes the scourge of wage theft a crime. Stealing workers’ wages has always been civil offense with serious hurdles from the bureaucracies that were supposed to help. With close consultation with the DLT and Director Scott Jensen and legislative stakeholder meetings, House Bill 7628 and Senate Bill 2475 passed in the small morning hours on Saturday June 18.

These bills will provide for serious penalties including fines and imprisonment for taking from working Rhode Islanders. Perhaps the most significant penalty is the loss of a business license, the bills also empower the director of the Department of Labor and Training to determine compliance. Encouraging responsible reporting and discouraging false claims, the process of private suit has meaningful safeguards in place.

“Too often we see workers awarded a judgment by DLT only to have the employer refuse to pay what is owed,” said Robert McCreanor executive director of the worker advocacy law firm The Rhode Island Center for Justice. With the power to revoke business licenses from offending employers who refuse to comply with its rulings, DLT will be able to compel prompt payment and get more money, more efficiently, into the hands of the worker who earned it. While more work needs to be done to address the growing problem of wage theft, this bill provides an important tool for Rhode Island workers.”

Said Lidia Jimenez a member of Fuerza Laboral, “As a worker that has had their wages stolen, I feel proud that my testimony and that of Flor Salazar helped elected officials understand the atrocities that are committed daily by bad employers who feel that justice will not reach them and take our daily bread. This will help put an end to some of the abuse.” It is estimated by Economic Progress Institute that over $50,000,000,000 per year are stolen from workers’ wages. The process of enforcement historically has been spotty and difficult to apply.

Jeremy Rix who is running for 2nd ward of the Warwick City Council said, “I’m thrilled that the wage theft reforms introduced by Rep. Shekarchi become law. This law will deter many unethical employers from stealing wages, and provide a meaningful path for vulnerable employees to recover their stolen earnings.”

The organizations that have participated in the effort to pass these two vital bills are: Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, The RIAFL-CIO, Fuerza Laboral, and the Rhode Island Center for Justice. Each of these organizations is committed to improving the conditions of Rhode Island’s working people.

June 20, 2016June 20, 2016

Wage theft law gets teeth

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Wage theft in Rhode Island may be a much bigger problem than robbery. And, as Steve Ahlquist previously reported, even high profile violators may be getting away with a slap on the wrist with workers left with little recourse.

Thanks to a bill introduced by Representative Shekarchi and Senator Nesselbush, now passed by the House and Senate, that will change upon the Governor’s signature.

In written testimony supporting the bill, the Rhode Island chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America (RIPDA) summarized how the bill makes a difference:

The bill improves the current law in several ways. First, in redefining “employee,” the protected class is broadened to generally include “independent contractors” (minus the groups that have been specifically excluded). Second, it provides for the State to suspend a non-compliant business’ license. Third, it allows employees to recover double damages and attorneys’ fees from a wage-stealing employer.

Not only does this bill deter unscrupulous employers from stealing from employees with suspension of a business’ license, but, for those who are deprived of their rightful wages, the bill gives a real solution. Instead of merely filing with the Department of Labor and Training, employees will be able to sue directly and recover twice as much as was stolen from them. Attorneys are encouraged to take meritorious cases — if successful, the employee’s lawyer is entitled to be paid by the employer.

The most financially vulnerable among us are targets of wage theft. The biggest challenge remains: Employees need to be aware of their rights, and have the courage to seek legal help when standing up to unethical and manipulative bosses.

May 19, 2016

Eastland Foods Inc workers successfully vote to unionize

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Workers at Eastland Food Products Inc voted overwhelmingly to unionize with UFCW Local 328. The vote Thursday was 74-37 in favor of the union. Last week there was a rally held outside the company, located in Cranston, to support the workers and protect them from anti-union intimidation.

There are employees at Eastland who have worked there for twenty years, and they’re still making minimum wage. Workers claim to have never been paid time and a half to work on Sundays. There are allegations of sexual harassment, wage theft, and 60 to 80 hour work weeks. No one working there has ever had a vacation or paid sick days.

With the power of a union, these workers will now be able to bargain for better pay, better working a conditions, and the right to be treated as people, not commodities.

May 13, 2016May 19, 2016

Workers fight to unionize at Eastland Food Products in Cranston

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I had never heard of Eastland Food Products Inc before hearing about the efforts of workers there to unionize. The company cleans, cuts and packages fruits and vegetables for supermarkets up and down the coast. Think of the half a butternut squash you might see at your supermarket, wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam tray. That’s likely come from Eastland Foods, 69 Fletcher Ave, in Cranston.

It’s the kind of situation we don’t imagine happening in Rhode Island. It’s the kind of company we picture operating in a right-to work state down south, where workers are not treated fairly or humanely.

But it’s happening right here in Rhode Island.

An overwhelming majority of workers have already signed authorization cards expressing their desire to form their union and now have an upcoming union election with UFCW Local 328. In response, the owners of Eastland began mandating that employees attend anti-union workshops ahead of a unionization vote this coming Thursday. The owners seem to like the status quo, and don’t want a union to mess with their ability to treat their workers as disposable commodities.

As a consequence, workers today picketed outside Eastland, supported by UFCW 328 and representatives from Prov CLC, IBEW 2323, IBEW 99, Prov Newspaper Guild, Teamsters 251, IATSE 481, RI ALC-CIO, RI Painters Union DC 11, and the American Friends Service Committee.

2016-05-13 Eastland Food 020 — Mike Araujo and David Bennett

The owner of Eastland drove by in his white Cadillac Escalade as the picketers organized across the street. He and his office workers and family used their cellphones to take video and pictures of the brave employees who dared to call on their boss for fair treatment. When the protesters crossed the street and walked to the door of the offices to deliver a letter outlining their grievances, the owner locked the door and called the police.

The worker committee of Eastland Foods read the undelivered letter on behalf of the workers stating, “After many years of working very hard for this company, we have been neglected and we have been treated with very little respect. We know that for the work that we do, we deserve better. We feel that it is unfair that we only earn minimum wage and we have no vacations, paid sick days, or paid holidays.” They continued, “In less than a week, we will cast our votes in favor of forming our union and we look forward to finally addressing the major problems that we have struggled with here for so many years.” They ended the letter by respectfully demanding that management “put an end to the intimidation and scare tactics” and to accept their decision to form their union.

The owner kept the door locked even when State Representative David Bennett knocked and asked to speak with him.

The police arrived and after consulting with the owner, asked the protesters to move to the sidewalk. In all the protest lasted about half an hour.

When I called Eastland to ask about the workers and the protest they hung up on me. According to this website, Eastland was established in 1986 as a “fruit and vegetable broker.” It has estimated revenues of between $100 and $500 million dollars and employs about 75 people.

November 10, 2015October 22, 2016

Fast food workers rally for $15 and a union at Wendy’s in Warwick

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Fast food employees, restaurant workers and labor allies rallied outside the Wendy’s restaurant at 771 Warwick Ave in Warwick around noon as part of a national effort to kick off a year-long $15 minimum wage campaign ahead of next year’s presidential elections. Nearly 100 people gathered in the parking lot of Wendy’s, where the management had locked the doors ahead of the protests and only served meals through the drive-thru window.

Led by outgoing Rhode-Island Jobs with Justice executive director Jesse Strecker, workers chanted and marched around the building, finally settling in front for a series of speeches from various workers and advocates “all the way down the food chain.”

Long time Wendy’s worker and minimum wage advocate Jo-Ann Gesterling spoke not only about fair wages, but about wages stolen when management forces workers to work through their breaks, lack of accountability in the management structure, and other issues fast food workers deal with on a daily basis.

Demonstrators were not only demanding $15 an hour, fair treatment and a union, they were also demanding that Wendy’s join the the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program (FFP). Attentive readers will remember that the Brown Student Labor Alliance lead a protest in October around the FFP, described as a “ground-breaking model for worker-led social responsibility based on a unique collaboration among farmworkers, Florida tomato growers and 14 participating buyers.” It is “the first comprehensive, verifiable and sustainable approach to ensuring better wages and working conditions in America’s agricultural fields.”

Emelio Garcia, a former employee of Teriyaki House Restaurant in downtown Providence spoke about not having been paid for work he did at the restaurant. Wage theft is a story sadly common in Rhode Island, as more and more employees stand up and demand the wages that have been stolen from them by employers. Garcia says that he was docked for two hours of pay a day for breaks he was never actually allowed to take.

Flor Salazar, who worked at Café Atlantic and was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, was allegedly assaulted by owner Juan Noboa with a baseball bat when she and a group of workers confronted Noboa at his home Halloween morning. “We are tired of having our work stolen, we are tired of being disrespected in our workplace,” said Salazar, “It’s enough.”

The final speaker was a not a restaurant worker but Magdalene Smith, a CNA working at a Pawtucket nursing home. “This is not a fight for just restaurants, but for everybody,” said Smith. “Everybody deserves $15. We work hard.”

In addition to Jobs With Justice and the Brown Student/Labor Alliance the event was sponsored by 1199 SEIU Rhode Island, Fuerza Laboral/Power of Workers and Restaurant Opportunities Center of Rhode Island.

October 20, 2015October 20, 2015

Workers protest construction sites, demand unpaid wages

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Workers and activists from local workers’ rights organizations paid a surprise visit to housing development construction sites at The Parc at Medfield and Modera Natick Central in Melrose, Massachusetts Friday morning, demanding $42,000 in unpaid wages. This crew of workers continues to work at these two sites and were employed by Allstate Interiors, a subcontractor hired by Dellbrook Construction and Mill Creek Residential.

They called on Dellbrook and Mill Creek to pay workers their unpaid wages.

This is the third time Fuerza Laboral, in concert with two Massachusetts based workers rights groups, Metrowest Worker Center and the Immigrant Worker Center Collaborative, have confronted worksites about the wage theft issue. (RI Future covered those visits in April and August.)

2015-10-16 Fuerza Laboral 005 — photo (c)2015 Fuerza Laboral

“This group of workers made a verbal agreement with Allstate to be paid $25/hr for drywall workers and $15/hr for laborers. Every week, they would submit invoices for this hourly rate,” said Phoebe Gardner, an organizer at Fuerza. “However, Allstate would send back pay checks and purchase orders that didn’t match up with the invoices but instead were by piecemeal and were consistently less than their agreed upon rate. In total, Allstate underpaid the workers $42,333.”

The workers first descended on The Parc at Medfield, a Dellbrook Construction. A delegation of about 20 workers and activists spoke to reps from Dellbrook, “to hold them responsible for the payments that Allstate refuses to make good on.”

According to Gardner, “Dellbrook was somewhat ‘diplomatic’ and promised to consider withholding further payment from Allstate until Allstate paid its workers if we can present sufficient proof that Allstate owes the money.” Allstate denies owing money and claims that they’ve paid workers in full. There is no written contract with the workers.

2015-10-16 Fuerza Laboral 004 — photo (c)2015 Fuerza Laboral

Dellbrook claimed that this was the first they were hearing about this issue, says Gardner, which she maintains is not true because workers had approached the company about this problem back in August, at which point Allstate foreman Willie Cerna paid a portion of what was due. Dellbrook also refused to acknowledge any other problems at their sites and declined to listen to advice on how to better treat workers in the future.

“When leaving the site,” says Gardner, “we noticed a truck belonging to Olympic Painting and Roofing, infamous for a long history of documented wage theft.”

The second stop was at Modera Natick Central a development of Mill Creek Residential. Here the reception was “hostile,” according to Gardner.

2015-10-16 Fuerza Laboral 006 — photo (c)2015 Fuerza Laboral

“When we entered their trailer, they told us that they would talk with us if we just stepped outside. As soon as we did so, they ran behind us and shut and locked the trailer door. When I tried to put my foot out to block them from closing the door, one Mill Creek rep pushed me out of the way. The police came almost immediately and kicked us off the property but agreed to deliver the letter we had for Mill Creek.

“Allstate crews were working on the work site while we were there. Willie Cerna was also on the site, who acted as if he didn’t know about the issue and ‘promised’ to review the workers’ invoices again. This is ridiculous because workers and our organizations have been trying to recover this money from Allstate for almost a year now.”

Gardner further referred me to this MetroWest Daily News article.

“Violations like this at local job sites are an ugly symptom of a trend that has swept our state and country,” says Fuerza Laboral in a press release. “The increasing use and misuse of subcontracting and outsourcing is a major contributor to the low wages and unsafe working conditions in our economy today. While sometimes these practices reflect more efficient ways of doing business, too often they are the result of explicit employer strategies to evade labor laws and erode worker protections.

“Legal processes for holding small subcontractors accountable to complying with labor law are often long and ultimately unsuccessful in recovering wages or ensuring safe working conditions. Small subcontractors can easily change names or leave the state. Many builders use contractors and subcontractors that are based out of state to begin with, which means workers would have to travel out of state and deal with out of state agencies to recover their wages.

“Even if the court or the state decides that the subcontractor owes workers money, it can be hard to recover if the subcontractor moves or has no assets. When workers have tried to bring these labor rights violations to the general contractor, they are told that the general contractor is not responsible because the workers are not direct employees.

“Workers are prepared to lien these two apartment complexes if Dellbrook and Mill Creek do not pay immediately. ‘We want justice,’ says Edwin Rosales, who worked under Allstate at the Medfield and Natick sites. ‘Our messafe to Dellbrook and Mill Creek is that it’s your property, you have to be responsible. We need to make owners of properties liable for workers’ justice. Allstate is not taking responsible and someone has to. Pay or lien!’

“Labor law needs to be updated to reflect the increased use of subcontracting to ensure that workers are protected. Community Labor United and its partners have filed state legislation in Massachusetts, entitled An Act to Prevent Wage Theft and Promote Employer Accountability, which seeks to update the law and build more worker protections into subcontracted work. While this legislation is pending, it is up to workers and advocates to put pressure on contractors to ensure they are doing business in a responsible manner and abiding by labor law.”

August 12, 2015

RI workers to Wood Partners: Pay us our wages!

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Workers from Rhode Island and Massachusetts visited the Alta Stone Apartments in Melrose, developed and owned by Wood Partners, to demand payment for $34,000 worth of work done on the apartments at 72 Stone Place and 1000 Stone Place between July and October 2014. According to Fuerza Laboral, these workers were employed by a subcontractor hired by Wood Partners. As part of their demonstration workers delivered a “citation” calling on Wood Partners to pay workers their stolen wages.

According to Fuerza Laboral organizer Phoebe Gardener, “When workers formally brought complaints to the subcontractor for their unpaid wages in April 2015, Wood Partners denied all claims. Ten workers have submitted wage theft complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Since the subcontractor has refused to pay and Wood was the ultimate beneficiary of the work performed, workers are holding Wood directly accountable for their unpaid wages.”

“They owed us money every week and didn’t pay us at all the last two weeks of work,” said Gianni Batres in a statement. Batres worked as a drywaller at the Alta Stone Place apartments. “This isn’t fair for workers. Wood Partners needs to be ultimately responsible for making sure that the workers who are hired by their contractors and subcontractors get paid.”

The workers previously demonstrated at the Hanover Development worksite at University Station in Westwood back in April.

Fuerza Laboral, along with sister organization Metrowest Worker Center, the Immigrant Worker Center Collaborative, Massachusetts Community Labor United, the Greater Boston Labor Council and other community and labor partners, “are working in more intentional ways to build campaigns around holding builders responsible for the working conditions of subcontracted workers,” says Gardener.

Gardener added that small subcontractors can easily change names or leave the state. Many builders use contractors and subcontractors that are based out of state to begin with, which means workers would have to travel out of state and deal with out of state agencies to recover their wages. Even if the court or the state decides that the subcontractor owes workers money, it can be hard to recover if the subcontractor moves or has no assets. When workers have tried to bring these labor rights violations to the general contractor, they are told that the general contractor is not responsible because the workers are not direct employees.

[This report is compiled from a press release and email correspondence with Phoebe Gardener.]

June 15, 2015June 16, 2015

RI Hospitality Assoc meets in chain restaurant guilty of $500,000 in wage theft

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A meeting of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA) at the restaurant Not Your Average Joe’s in Warwick means that RIHA President Bob Bacon, owner of the Gregg’s Restaurant chain, can no longer claim that, “Thirty-five years plus in the industry, I’ve never encountered [tip and wage theft].”

Not Your Average Joe’s in Massachusetts was found to have failed to pay employees hundreds of thousands of dollars across 15 restaurants in 2012 by the United States Department of Labor. Not Your Average Joe’s owed workers over half a million dollars.

Bacon, speaking before the RI House Committee on Labor, added, “I’m not naive enough to say that it doesn’t exist. I can tell you that it doesn’t exist on the level that’s being portrayed here tonight. I can say that without any reservation.”

This is belied by a statement from George A. Rioux, the Labor Department’s district director in Boston, whose investigation found such theft and fraud at 34 Boston area restaurants. “We were surprised by the results,” said Rioux, “This is substantial. We’re not getting the change in behavior we want. Companies are paying back wages and agreeing to compliance, and it’s not enough to finally wake up and see that we’re serious.”

Bacon was speaking against House Bill 5363 that, if passed, would make it easier for workers to take action to recover money lost through wage theft, a multibillion dollar crime in the United States. Bacon suggested that the restaurant industry was fully capable of policing themselves.

…if one of these people that says they have all these problems, if they want to come to us, I’ve offered for three years in a row to do the following: First, we’ll keep the employees name confidential. Second, we’ll meet with the employer and we’ll bring the complaint to their attention, third, we’ll work to educate that employer on the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules and regulations on the matter, and fourth, probably most important, in the event that an employer chooses to stay out of compliance with an issue, we would assist the employee in going through the appropriate channels to get the situation rectified.”

It is the height of absurdity to believe that the same organization that feels it is proper to hold meetings in restaurants that have been found to have engaged in wage theft can be counted on to deal fairly with employees claiming wage theft or other forms of worker abuse.

RIHA communications director Monika Nair did not respond to an inquiry regarding the purpose of the meeting at Not Your Average Joe’s in Warwick, but the timing of the event, ahead of a final, two week flurry of legislative activity in the General Assembly, seems more than coincidental.

Shortly after sending my inquiry to Nair, Sarah Bratko, manager of governmental affairs for RIHA, started following me on Twitter. A second inquiry to Bratko has also gone unanswered as of this writing.

At the same time RIHA is meeting, ROC United RI and the One Fair Wage Coalition are having an Industry Night from 6-9pm at E&O Tap, 289 Knight St in Providence.

June 14, 2015August 9, 2016

RI workers pay an early morning visit to Gourmet Heaven owner’s home in CT

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Early Saturday morning about 20 people, including former employees of Gourmet Heaven Rhode Island and their supporters, traveled by bus to Woodbridge, CT to wake up Gourmet Heaven owner Chung Cho, who owes workers hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages across two states.

Organized by Fuerza Laboral and RI Jobs with Justice, the group exited the bus and walked up the driveway towards Cho’s mansion, loudly calling on him to pay his workers what he owes, even if it means selling off his fabulous home and moving into lesser digs. Cho did not show his face at the windows or respond to the crowd, but the Woodbridge Police Department did respond minutes after the action started.

The police, once they determined that this was a peaceful labor protest, did not interfere, much to the consternation of some of Cho’s neighbors. Since Cho decided against meeting with his former workers, the protesters took a walk through Cho’s neighborhood, chanting and distributing flyers.

This was the morning that Cho’s neighbors, if they didn’t already know, learned what kind of person he is.

Chung Cho was found guilty in Connecticut of 43 violations of employment law, and was ordered to pay $140,000 in back pay to workers. In Rhode Island, Cho is accused of not paying over $150,000 in back pay. Cho denies that he owes any money. The trial is scheduled to start on Tuesday.

Pedro Guarcas, in a statement, said, “I worked in the kitchen of Gourmet Heaven in Providence for over a year. For months I worked grueling 72 hour weeks for only $400 a week. Twice I fell down the kitchen stairs carrying heavy boxes of fruit because my supervisor was pressuring me to work faster. In April of 2014, the kitchen supervisor met me out back when I was taking out the trash and punched me several times in the stomach. Eventually I had to stop working because I couldn’t handle the pain in my foot and my hip where I had fallen and where my supervisor had punched me.”

This is at least the second time workers have taken early morning action against business owners who steal wages. In January workers paid an early morning visit to the home of Juan Noboa, accused of owing his workers at least $17,000 in unpaid wages from his failed Café Atlantic restaurant venture. His neighbors were also displeased.

Owners of businesses stealing wages from workers should take note: You could be next.

April 28, 2015

‘Wage theft, plain and simple’: My letter to WPRO and Cumulus Media

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Editor’s note: Former Phoenix editor-turned-freelance journalist Phil Eil says WPRO owes him $1,350 for four stories he wrote in late 2014. He agreed to share the below letter he sent to the Cumulus-owned radio station’s corporate office in Atlanta, as well as the local manager in Rhode Island. “I gave WPRO and Cumulus the benefit of the doubt for five months, during which time I conducted all of my attempts to be paid in private,” he said in an email to RI Future. “They have proven themselves unworthy of of the trust and faith I placed in them, and therefore I’m moving my quest to be compensated into the public sphere (where, after all, as a talk radio station and news outlet, they conduct their business).”

In the letter he says, “At this point, this is wage theft, plain and simple.”

April 27, 2015

Accounts Payable
CUMULUS MEDIA INC., CUMULUS BROADCASTING INC.
3280 Peachtree Road, NW Suite 2300
Atlanta, Georgia 30305

CC: Barbara Haynes, General Manager
Cumulus Media Providence
1502 Wampanoag Trail
East Providence, RI 02915

Hello,

My name is Philip Eil and I am a freelance journalist based in Providence, Rhode Island. I’m writing to collect payment for four articles, totaling over 11,500 words, I wrote for 630wpro.com (the website for the Cumulus-owned News Talk 630 & 99.7 FM WPRO, based in East Providence, Rhode Island) in November and December of 2014. The sum of the fees for these articles is $1,350, and my late fees (which I explain at the end of this letter) add up to an additional $684.50. In total, Cumulus Media and/or WPRO owe me $2,034.50, and I am demanding this payment immediately to avoid further legal action.

It’s not customary for me to demand payment from a publicly traded corporation, so some explanation is in order. In October of 2014, the Providence Phoenix (the weekly newspaper where I had worked as news editor) closed. Shortly thereafter, I was approached by WPRO’s Digital Media Director, who was interested in expanding the web content on 630wpro.com. We talked about what he was looking for and the kinds of articles I was interested in writing, and we agreed upon terms that were laid out in a contract that I ultimately signed and submitted on November 17, 2014. On October 31, 2014, 630wpro.com published an article introducing me as a freelance contributor which included a quote from the station’s Program Director: “We are excited to have new, original content from someone as respected as Phil available to us…The original content and perspective he provides will be invaluable to our on-air hosts and online delivery.” That post has since been removed from the website, but I have attached a printed version.

My first article for 630wpro.com, “Campaign 2014: A Look Back,” was published on November 3, 2014, and three more articles followed before year’s end: a 5,000-word interview with the outgoing governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee; an in-depth report on the state’s use and distribution of the anti-overdose medication, Narcan; and a 3,000-word year-in-review article published in late December. When I still had received no payment after submitting the fourth article, I decided to stop working on new pieces.

So began a still-fruitless quest to be compensated for the contracted work I had done for WPRO – all work that has been published on 630wpro.com alongside ads that presumably generate revenue for the station. Though I had already inquired about the status of my payment in November and December, in January I wrote numerous additional emails and made additional phone calls to various station employees. Despite these repeated inquiries, I received no paycheck.

On January 22, 2015 – more than two months after I had sent my first invoice – I received this email from WPRO’s Business Manager:

Hi Phillip – during the year-end process, payable runs are fewer and farther between as opposed to the normal weekly runs. We don’t cut the checks here, they are processed at the corporate level. I only get reports once per week and will know on Monday if they cut your check this Thursday. If they haven’t, I will get you a cashier’s check and expense it on my monthly expense report. I apologize but it is beyond my control. We haven’t had the ability to cut checks locally since Cumulus took over three years ago.

Still, no check arrived. I made more phone calls and wrote more emails. On February 3 – nearly three months after I first sent an invoice to WPRO – I received this email from the same business manager, following up on a phone call in which she said the check was being overnight-mailed to me:

Hi Phil – I just wanted to let you know that due to the storm yesterday the FEDEX package was not picked up. It is going out today so you should have it tomorrow.

Still, no check arrived. I made more phone calls and wrote more emails. On February 11, I received this note from the Digital Media Director who had initially approached me about working for WPRO:

I was notified that [the Business Manager] is no longer with the company.

There is a corporate business manager in the building and I have reported the missing check to our GM.

Stand by…

Still, no check arrived. I made more calls and wrote more emails. On April 7 – more than four months after I sent my first invoice to WPRO – I received this note from the station’s Program Director.

Hi Phil,

I got your message. I am so sorry this has happened. I know [Digital Media Director] mentioned quite a while ago that you were waiting for money. I thought you had been paid. I will find out what is happening with this and get back to you as soon as I can.

Again, no check arrived. And, as of today, 161 days (5 months, 10 days) after I filed my first invoice, and numerous months after filing invoices for subsequent articles, I still have not been paid for the work I did for 630wpro.com.

While I understand that unforeseen circumstances and personnel issues may have contributed to the delay, I – an independent contractor – should not have to suffer for your company’s internal dysfunction. At this point, this is wage theft, plain and simple. I am not an amateur journalist and my work is not a hobby for me. When I am misled and taken advantage of for nearly six months, I will not remain silent. Last week, after months of private efforts to resolve this situation proved ineffective, I wrote a Facebook post about it, which, in turn, was written about in a local Patch.com article, which, in turn, was picked up by the national media blogger Jim Romenesko, who wrote, “Shame on you, Cumulus Media’s WPRO!” I will continue to tell my story until I am paid.

As you can see, I am CC’ing Barbara Haynes, General Manager of Cumulus Providence, and I will also be simultaneously publishing this letter on the blog rifuture.org. As for the late fees I mentioned, when a client does not pay me within 90 days of receiving my invoice, I assess a fee of one percent of the agreed-upon payment for every additional day that payment is received. In this case, I sent WPRO a $250 invoice for my first article on November 17, 2014. It has been 71 days since the 90-window expired, thus a $177.50 fee has accrued. Add to this the fees from the other three unpaid articles ($260, $160, and $87, respectively) and the total comes to $684.50. Added together, these fees will continue to rise at a total of $13.50 for every day I am not paid.

You will find an invoice for those late fees – as well as my initial WPRO invoices and a printed copy of the 630wpro.com article trumpeting my arrival as a contributor – attached to this letter.

I sincerely hope I receive a check for $2,034.50 as soon as possible. A public apology would be nice, too.

Sincerely,

Philip Eil

Freelance Journalist, Editor, and Teacher
[My email address.]
[My phone number.]

April 16, 2015August 9, 2016

Providence fights for $15; local march part of national day of action

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On April 15th, Providence became one of over 200 cities to participate in a “National Day of Action to Fight for $15.”

In a two hour march through downtown Providence, nearly 100 workers and activists visited businesses engaged in wage theft, low pay and anti-unionization efforts. The event was organized through Rhode Island Jobs with Justice in collaboration with Restaurant Opportunities Center of RI (ROC-RI), Fuerza Laboral, Carpenters Local 94, SEIU Rhode Island, UNITE HERE Local 217, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) and IUPAT Local 195 DC 11 Painters.

The groups are “seeking a city ordinance that would require all companies getting tax breaks in Providence to pay workers a living wage of at least $15/hr, provide paid sick days, health benefits, and fair, predictable schedules.” They also want the city to “follow the First Source ordinance by hiring residents of Providence, prioritize hiring people from high poverty neighborhoods, and make sure that people working these jobs have a pathway to a real career by using apprenticeship programs.”

The groups are also asking Mayor Jorge Elorza to live up to the campaign promises he made while still a candidate at a mayoral forum in South Providence, “to set up a community board with the power to approve/disapprove projects, take back money if companies aren’t living up to what they say they’ll do, and negotiate the construction of projects community members identify as needs, such as affordable housing, or fixing up an abandoned lot into a park.”

The Providence Police Department cleared the streets ahead of the marchers, who started their protest outside of Gourmet Heaven on Weybosset St. This is the third time protesters gathered outside the restaurant, which is accused of stealing wages from employees here in Rhode Island in a situation similar to Connecticut where substantial fines have been levied against the company for wage theft. Two workers addressed the crowd, and spoke about the abusive working conditions they say they endured. One worker said he was told, when he demanded his pay, that if he complained the management would have him deported.

The marchers then walked a short way up the street to Cilantro restaurant, a chain recently fined by the US Labor Department for wage theft to the tune of $100,000. Oddly, a Cilantro worker met the crowd, offering tortilla chips and bottled drinks, which were refused. “We don’t want your crumbs, we want our money,” quipped Michael Araujo of ROC-RI.

The march then continued across the city to the Providence Hilton Hotel, owned by The Procaccianti Group, where hotel workers were already outside picketing. The two groups merged into a protest of well over 150 people. The workers at the Providence Hilton announced a worker-led boycott of the hotel, joining the boycott efforts of workers at the Renaissance Providence Hotel (also owned by Procaccianti Group.) Employees from the Omni Providence Hotel were also on hand to support the boycott effort.

City Councillor Carmen Castillo spoke to the crowd about her experiences working at the Omni Providence Hotel, which was owned by the Procaccianti Group when it was called the Westin. Since the Procaccianti Group sold the hotel, worker conditions have markedly improved. Also speaking to the crowd was hotel worker Santa Brito.

The protest then headed for the Providence City Hall, stopping along the way at the Subway sandwich shop attached to the skating rink. Here Jo-Ann Gesterling, a fast food worker from Wendy’s, spoke to the crowd. Gesterling has led previous at her store and was arrested last year in Hartford CT during a Fight for $15 protest there. Gesterling talked about the importance of raising the minimum wage to $15, and about the effort to improve working conditions at her restaurant.

The final stop of the march was Providence City Hall, where Malchus Mills of DARE called on Mayor Jorge Elorza to honor his campaign commitments and enforce the First Source ordinance, which prioritizes city hiring from Providence communities. Mills also called upon the City Council to demand fair wages and benefits for workers from companies seeking tax stabilizations from the city. Also speaking at the City Hall was Jeffrey Santos, member of Carpenters Local 94.

April 14, 2015April 15, 2015

Workers demand $14,800 in unpaid wages from Allstate Interiors

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About 35 workers and their supporters descended on a Hanover Development worksite at University Station in Westwood, MA on Monday to demand that subcontractor $14,800 in unpaid wages from Allstate Interiors. Ten workers, Cristian Lopez, Jorge Jaramillo, Oscar Calmo, Carlos Colon, Lucio Tejada, Hugo Quijada, Walter Vivas, Caleb Romero, Ventura Tucama and Gianni Batres were subcontracted by Allstate Interiors in 2014 to do drywall installation at Stone Place in Melrose, MA. According to the workers, they were not paid for their last two weeks of work.

Since Allstate Interiors has declined to settle, the workers brought their complaint to Hanover Development, a company presently subcontracting Allstate Interiors. The process of sub and sub-sub contracting workers on real estate development worksites makes it too easy for companies to evade the responsibility for properly paying worker wages says Fuerza Laboral organizer Phoebe Gardner.

“We weren’t stealing from anyone,” agrees Carlos Colon, one of the affected workers, “they are stealing from us.”

Until laws are enacted to catch up with the new worker reality of independent and sub-subcontractors, it is up to workers to hold project development companies responsible for properly paying subcontracted employees. Demonstrations and actions help convince companies like Hanover Development that for the sake of its reputation, the company should only be working with subcontractors that do not engage in wage theft.

The demonstrating workers were assisted in their efforts by Fuerza Laboral, “a community organization of workers who take action to stop workplace abuse” in cooperation with worker collaboratives from Massachusetts, including the Immigrant Worker Center Collaborative, Metrowest Worker Center, MassCOSH and the Lynn Worker Center for Economic Justice.

According to the Economic Policy Institute wage theft in the United States is an “epidemic” that costs workers more than $50 billion a year.

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

Working for tips in Rhode Island

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At the State House hearing for the wage theft bill and for the bill to raise the minimum wage we heard a lot from members and leaders of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. At the wage theft bill hearing the room was packed with restaurant owners pleading poverty and assuring legislators that their waitstaff are well cared for, and even loved.

Most of the restaurant owners were from the kind of high end, casual fine dining establishments where stories of well paid waitstaff might actually be something akin to the truth. But as Mike Araujo, of ROC United RI pointed out, “The average tipped worker does not make $20 an hour.”

“We are not all high end restaurants,” he said. “We are mostly Denny’s, we are mostly diner service. So to say that ‘my people do well’ or ‘I love my people’ might be true, but we have to love all the people who work in the industry.”

In Rhode Island, servers are supposed to make $2.89 an hour, plus tips. By law, if a server doesn’t make enough in tips to reach $9 an hour, the restaurant is supposed to make up the difference.

In general there are two kinds of restaurants; corporate chains like Denny’s or Chili’s, and owner operated diners and restaurants. The chain restaurants are governed in large part by strict rules and regulations that come from the top. These restaurants are national or multinational in nature and don’t often run afoul of local laws. They operate in California, where there is no tipped minimum wage, as well as in New England, where Rhode Island has the lowest tipped minimum wage. The tipped minimum wage is $7.25 in Connecticut and $3 in Massachusetts. New York just raised theirs to $7.50.

Non-chain restaurants have more leeway in paying their employees, because they can often pay under the table. There is no corporate chain of command tracking every cent that comes in and goes out of the store. This isn’t to say that all owner operators violate the law, but the practice is common enough that some servers I’ve spoken to have told me that they have never worked in a restaurant that didn’t pay some or all of its employees at least partly under the table.

I recently spoke to two servers at two different restaurants about the tipped minimum wage and their experiences working as servers in Rhode Island. One server works at a chain restaurant here in Providence, the other works at an owner operated restaurant in Warwick. Both spoke to me under the condition of anonymity, so as to not suffer any blowback at work. Some details of their stories have been obscured as well, to avoid identifying them accidentally.

Debbie is a single mom working at an owner operated restaurant. She has three kids. She’s worked for tips all her life. “This is how we survive,” she said. “We do all right. I’m pretty good at what I do most of the time.”

Chris is in her mid-fifties and has been working for tips as a server for over 30 years. She works for a well known corporate chain restaurant. “When I first started waitressing [the tipped minimum wage] was $1.50 or $1.59, so it’s gone up, but not for 20 years. It’s crazy.”

John's Diner by John Baeder — John’s Diner by John Baeder

The experiences of the women are similar, and they make about the same amount of money, but there are big differences between working at an owner operated restaurant and working for a corporate chain.

“We make all our money on tips,” says Debbie, “At the end of the week I get a paycheck, and it’s usually nothing, or a dollar, because of taxes. We get taxed on our tips and we get taxed on the $2.89.”

Chris has the same experience in her corporate store. “Some of my co-workers have a pile of $2 and $3 checks. Why bother cashing them? Or if they do, they cash them once a year for $80.”

Both work hard. “I work my ass off in here six days a week,” says Debbie, “I work like 45, 50 hours a week.” Chris works Monday through Friday. They both work the day shift.

I ask them about overtime.

“I probably shouldn’t say this,” says Debbie, “but the owner pays me for 40 hours and then I get the rest in cash. Time and a half has never happened. Every restaurant I’ve ever worked at that’s how it always was. You get paid for 40 hours and then everything else is overtime, not on a paycheck. Time and a half on $2.89 is meaningless anyway, because we’re talking about less than $4.50. It’s not like my tips are going to be time and a half.”

Chris sees this as a problem. “Corporate restaurants have to do the right thing,” she says, “But these [owner operated] restaurants, they can get away with not paying $2.89 or overtime.”

She said she knows someone who was injured and couldn’t collect disability because “so much of her work was off the books she didn’t qualify. I have friends that are working at some of these little places that aren’t making out. One girl got laid off and was told, ‘You can’t collect. You were working under the table.’ How are you suppose to deal with that?”

Working at an owner operated restaurant can bring other problems as well. “We don’t get time and half for holidays, we don’t get paid vacations,” says Debbie, “If I take a vacation I lose out. I pay for the vacation and I don’t get paid to work. My kids are like, ‘You don’t even get time off,’ and I’m like no, I don’t.

“You don’t get sick pay, you don’t get- I can’t even call in sick! There’s no one else to work. I open the store. Who’s going to answer the phone at 5 o’clock in the morning? If I’m sick, you’re not going to answer your phone, you know? You’re going to be sleeping.”

The recent snow has interfered with their pay as well. “It’s difficult sometimes, on a slow snow day, sure,” says Chris, “We didn’t get any customer tips until almost one in the afternoon and we’re thinking, ‘We’re not going to get anybody today.’”

So when it’s slow like that, does the restaurant make up the money as the law requires?

“They’re supposed to punch you in [with more money] when you make less than minimum,” says Chris, “but they average the week.”

Debbie agrees, telling me, “We don’t ever not make minimum wage, so the restaurant never has to make it up. On any given day we might not make any money, but the restaurant is allowed to average it out over the week.”

Debbie is worried about raising the tipped minimum wage. She worries that, “if they raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour people aren’t going to tip us, and if we made only $9 an hour we wouldn’t make what we would just living off tips. We make more than that in tips.”

Chris isn’t convinced. “People don’t know what we make. In the restaurant people are telling me, ‘I didn’t know you made this! I saw on the news they’re trying to raise your rates. I didn’t know you made only $2.89.’ If they already thought you were making more and they’re tipping you whatever they do, why would they lower it when you actually make that amount?”

Debbie has an ‘aha’ moment. “Yeah, you’re right. If you don’t know what I make, and you’re assuming that I’m making minimum wage when you tip me, then why would you not tip me?”

I point out that the minimum wage in Connecticut for tipped workers is $7.25, and nobody seems to be tipping less there.

“Really?” says Debbie, surprised, “I didn’t know they made more in Connecticut. Damn. It’s like right there.”

Chris isn’t surprised. She knows people who went to Connecticut to make more money. “A couple of girls who live on the line transferred to Connecticut, but I live too far,” she says. Transferring wasn’t hard, because the corporate restaurant chain has units in every state.

Both servers mentioned that working at a higher end restaurant in Providence might bring in more money. “I would have loved to have gone to Federal Hill,” says Chris, “but I don’t see myself, at my age, going there, working at some fancy restaurant.”

But both women also had heard stories that worried them.

“I had a friend who worked at a nice, upscale restaurant in Providence,” said Debbie, “and she worked Friday and Saturday night and made a lot of money, but for every good shift you got there you had to take a crappy shift on a Tuesday afternoon or something. On a Monday-Tuesday lunch, she might make $3. But she still had to pay to park, and she had to pay for her gas because she doesn’t live in Providence. So she’d drive to Providence, pay to park, drive home and leave negative basically.”

“One girl I know applied at a very nice place on Federal Hill as a cocktail waitress,” says Chris, “She didn’t take the job because they told her you don’t make a pay, you just work for tips and all of you pool your tips at the end of the night.”

So they don’t pay the cocktail waitresses anything?

Chris nodded. “She never took the job. I told her that’s not right. She was asked, ‘You want taxes taken out? You want to go through all of that?’

“I have friends who worked on Federal Hill. A lot of them get paid under the table. The [owners] should have to do the right thing, but that’s what they don’t want to do. Corporate restaurants have to pay you the right wages. They have so many restaurants, and they pay different amounts everywhere they’re set up, but you’d think the corporate restaurants would want these other restaurants to pay employees on the books so that they could compete better.”

So, I ask, are you two living the high life?

“I see people working to get $15 an hour at McDonald’s but we don’t make that,” Debbie says, shaking her head. “Every so often we may make that, but not all the time.”

“I don’t live the high life, God no,” says Chris.

January 22, 2015August 9, 2016

Wage theft leaves victims few options other than protest

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The recent protest outside Juan Noboa’s Olneyville residence by restaurant workers claiming that they were owed thousands of dollars in unpaid salaries for work at his Café Atlantic restaurant has provoked conversation about the propriety of such tactics. Noboa, though his lawyer, denies any wrongdoing and claims that one of his children was “terrified” by the crowd outside his house. His lawyer added that dissatisfied employees should not “protest at a man’s home in the dark” and suggested that a suitable location for protest might be the now closed restaurant.

It is true that no one would be disturbed by a protest at a closed restaurant. For Noboa and other business owners accused of misconduct by their employees, such an event would be perfect, because the media would not cover it, and no one would have to hear the protester’s demands. Those targeted by such protests and their defenders like to point out that there are proper channels through which to make such complaints. The protesters outside Noboa’s home, with the help of Fuerza Laboral, did file complaints with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, so we can all rest assured, it is argued, that once the system has run its course, justice will be served and Noboa will be compelled to pay, or not, depending on the Dept. of Labor decision.

Yet protests like these are not about one business owner who may have stolen wages from employees, or even about two restaurants (the other being Gourmet Heaven, located in downtown Providence and formerly on the East Side) that have closed suddenly, leaving their employees high and dry. These protests are about what Phoebe Gardener, a Community Organizer for Fuerza Laboral, called, “…a pattern of Providence-based food establishments intentionally cheating workers of their wages.”

Statistics on wage theft are difficult to find. At the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) it is estimated that nationally, wage theft, “is costing workers more than $50 billion a year.” To put that into perspective, the EPI notes that “All of the robberies, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts in the nation cost their victims less than $14 billion in 2012, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports.” Wage theft is at least three times more costly than all other forms of theft combined, yet our prisons are filled with conventional thieves, not duplicitous employers.

Surveys indicate that most victims of wage theft never sue and never complain to the government. “A three-city study of workers in low-wage industries found that in any given week, two-thirds experienced at least one pay-related violation,” reports EPI, emphasis mine.

Wage theft is widespread, extremely profitable and easy to get away with.

Workers at the low end of the pay scale, or who are socially vulnerable, such as undocumented immigrants or former prisoners, are frequent victims. Reporting the crime of wage theft takes time, time the working poor need to be working in order to survive.

There is little reason for employers to properly pay what they owe workers. If caught, an employer will be ordered to pay the workers what they are determined to owe and may be fined a “maximum civil monetary penalty” of $1,100.

So let’s revisit the tactics of protest.

Having protesters arrive outside your home at 6am to accuse you of theft with a bullhorn is embarrassing and may be even a little frightening for your family. The very possibility that this might happen should serve as a deterrent to any business owner in Providence who might be considering cheating employees out of the money owed to them. As the Fuerza Laboral press release stated, “Workers and allies are bringing the message that they must be paid in full immediately or else they will continue to bring public attention on Noboa and the other owners.” [emphasis mine]

Workers, who used to be all but powerless in these situations, are finding ways to shift the playing field. This doesn’t mean that workers suddenly have the advantage, far from it, but if workers continue to use such tactics, business owners will no longer be able to steal from their employees so easily. Now offending employers risk something much more valuable than money: Their public reputations and the respect of their neighbors and family.

Laws could be passed that strengthen the rights of workers and make it easier to file claims of wage theft. Fines and penalties for non-payment or underpayment of wages could be increased to the point where they act as real deterrents, rather than as a cost of doing business. Our legislature could enact legislation that makes it economically worthwhile for unpaid employees to pursue their rightful claims.

However, in the absence of thoughtful legislation that protects the rights of workers, public protest must fill in to loudly proclaim a simple truth: Workers have dignity and deserve to be treated with respect.

January 19, 2015

Juan Noboa denies wage theft allegations

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Juan Noboa, one of the owners of Café Atlantic accused of non-payment of wages by former employees, “denies that he hasn’t paid people proper wages,” said his lawyer Dawn Oliveri.

Further, Oliveri assured me that she knows Noboa as “a very respectable business man.”

She intends to fight the allegations made by Fuerza Laboral on behalf of workers who have claimed that Noboa owes thousands of dollars for work done at Café Atlantic, a restaurant Noboa opened in September of last year and then closed shortly after.

Oliveri questioned the tactic of protesting outside a man’s home in the early morning, telling me that Noboa claims that one of his children was awoken by the protesters and “terrified.” She added, “You don’t protest at a man’s home in the dark.”

Oliveri also questioned the using word “thief” by the protesters in describing their former employer. “I hope they can substantiate their case,” she warned.

Our short conversation revolved around tactics. In Oliveri’s opinion the proper place for the protesters to state their case was at the closed restaurant, located at 1366 Chalkstone Ave, where the alleged wage theft took place. She then added, “I have a lot of respect for civil disobedience and so does Juan.”

Complaints of non-payment of wages against Noboa and his partner, Jose Bren, have been filed by several employees with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training over the last few months. In one complaint, Edwin says he was hired to work in the kitchen and claims that he is owed $700.

“Juan said he would pay some of the beginning wages in cash but only paid part. [Noboa said] the checks were set up but he didn’t bring them on Friday and then another excuse. Tomorrow. Then for Sunday but no one showed up. That Monday Juan and Chino assured me that all would be there money wise on Wednesday nobody again then or that week until a meeting with Chino.”

Jared, hired to be a front line cook, says that he was paid for the first week but not thereafter. He claims to be owed $462.

Flor Salazar was hired as an administrative assistant and claims she is owed $7,332.50. According to the complaint she filed, payment of the money owed her, “was requested, but [Noboa] never replied in person, only by phone and he refused to answer. We asked for a meeting so we could come to an agreement and he refused.” [Spanish translation provided by Tony Houston]

A worker named Oscar says he is owed $7,803. He wrote in his complaint that when he tried to find out why he wasn’t getting paid, Noboa, “never gave a valid reason, he just disappeared and I couldn’t talk to him again after he closed [the restaurant] either by cell or text message but there was no answer.” Oscar adds that Noboa agreed that, “he would give [my payment] to me in time because he was just starting, but in the end he just decided to close and he said he would open in 3 days, and it never happened. I only ask that he pay me what he owes me.” [Spanish translation provided by Tony Houston]

In the end, the cases will be adjudicated by the Department of Labor, and official determinations will be made. I will follow up on this story as it develops.

January 15, 2015August 9, 2016

Workers protest ex-boss’s home at dawn; demand $17,000 in unpaid wages

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About 40 people showed up before sunrise at Juan Noboa’s 23 Julian St. residence in the Olneyville section of Providence this morning to demand the payment of over $17,000 in back wages to six employees.

According to organizers, Noboa and his partner, Jose Bren, employed around 15 workers to help open Café Atlantic, a restaurant located at 1366 Chalkstone Ave. between August and September, 2014. Some employees worked up to 70 hours a week, but, according to organizers, “by September 28th, Noboa and Bren closed the restaurant just months after opening and walked away without paying workers their full wages.”

The workers have organized through Fuerza Laboral (Power of Workers) “a community organization that builds worker leadership to fight workplace exploitation.” They have filed complaints with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and have attempted many times to contact the owners with their concerns, but have received no response.

Juan Noboa was a volunteer for Buddy Cianci during his unsuccessful run for mayor last election. During the election Noboa reported Representative Scott Slater to the state police for possible voter fraud after taking video showing Slater, “leaving Kilmartin Plaza, a Providence high-rise for the elderly, with what looked like a ballot.” The police investigated and cleared Slater of any wrongdoing. Slater issued a statement saying that he recognized the man filming him “as someone who had threatened him in the past.”

According to the Providence Journal, Noboa “is a convicted felon and has been arrested 10 times dating back to March 2000.”

This morning’s action follows last month’s protest outside Gourmet Heaven on Westminster St. downtown. “We see a pattern of Providence-based food establishments intentionally cheating workers of their wages,” said Phoebe Gardener, Community Organizer with Fuerza Laboral.

“It makes me so angry that I am doing everything I can to provide for my family and do my job the best I can and Noboa doesn’t care about anything but making money for himself,” said Flor Salazar, former employee of Café Atlantic in a written statement, “Some of us are single mothers and are barely getting by.”

After chanting in Noboa’s driveway and pounding on his door for about fifteen minutes, the Providence police arrived and moved the protesters onto the sidewalk and into the street. Protesters handed out fliers to neighbors accusing Noboa of theft.

Noboa never came to the door or showed his face in the window.

December 20, 2014August 9, 2016

Gourmet Heaven in Providence accused of wage theft

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Supporters, activists and former employees stormed Gourmet Heaven, an upscale deli on Weybosset Street in downtown Providence Friday. They say employees are owed more than $100,000 in back wages, as is the case at Connecticut delis under the same ownership.

The protesters entered the Providence deli at noon and temporarily stifled the business to the consternation of the manager on duty. “Get out!” she yelled.

“We’ll leave when you pay your workers what they are owed,” replied one of the protesters.

“What you’re doing is illegal,” said another.

Gourmet Heaven is owned by Chung Cho, and he runs two other Gourmet Heaven outlets in New Haven, Connecticut. There was also a Gourmet Heaven on Meeting Street here in Providence, but it recently closed. In New Haven, Cho has been charged with “42 felony and misdemeanors” for wage theft, and was “arrested twice for discrimination and retaliation related to these claims.”

Labor activists here say Rhode Islanders are owed more than $100,000 in minimum wage and overtime pay. Phoebe Gardener, organizer at Fuerza Laboral, a workers’ rights center in Central Falls, has filed claims here in Rhode Island for seven workers.

After about five minutes of protest inside Cho’s downtown deli, the Providence Police Department arrived and the protesters left the store. But they continued to picket and chant outside Gourmet Heaven on the Weybosset Street sidewalk for the next hour, seriously impacting business. Flyers are distributed to passersby explaining the reason for the protest.

This protest was marked by excellent, artful signs and a few fun touches such as a rat mask and Hulk gloves.

In Connecticut, Cho reached an agreement with the Department of Labor to pay $140,000 in back wages to 25 workers, but has so far not made his payments in a timely manner. There are reports that the New Haven stores are in the process of closing.

In November, Mohamed Masaud, manager of Weybosset Street Gourmet Heaven, claimed that there were no such violations going on in Providence.

Gardener and Jesse Strecker of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, claim to have found ten workers who are owed thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars in back pay. All told, it is asserted that over $100,000 in minimum wage and overtime pay is owed to workers here in Rhode island.

“I worked grueling 84 hour weeks, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day on the night shift, from 7pm to 7am,” said Pedro Us in a written statement, “For all that work, and on the night shift, I was paid only $360 a week, way below minimum wage and with no overtime.”

Pedro Guarcas worked, at both the downtown and Meeting St locations of Gourmet Heaven. Guarcas claims that while on the job, he suffered workplace injuries and physical abuse.

“The managers pressured us to work so fast that I slipped and fell down the stairs twice and hurt my foot badly. This past April, the kitchen supervisor… punched me in the stomach when I was taking out the trash, but when I reported it to the store manager, he didn’t do anything about it.”

Guarcas claims that he worked 72 hour weeks for less than $400 a week, a paltry $5.50 an hour and well under Rhode Island’s minimum wage. Guarcas did not file any complaints because he has “a family to feed and it is hard to find another job.” Now that he no longer works for Gourmet Heaven he is speaking up in the hope of collecting his lost wages and because he wants justice.

Guarcas and another former Gourmet Heaven worker from Rhode Island, as well as a former worker from Connecticut, spoke at the protest. In addition George Nee, president of the RI AFL-CIO, James Riley, Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Local 328, Providence City Councillor Carmen Castillo and union organizer Marino Cruz, recently dismissed from his job at the Providence Renaissance Hotel for his unionization efforts also spoke briefly to the protesters.

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March 21, 2014March 23, 2014

Tipped employees suffer a form of legalized wage theft

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Minimum wage in Rhode Island is currently set at $8 an hour, but if you are a server working in a restaurant earning tips, you can be paid as little as $2.89 and hour. The idea is that the lower wage will be made up for by the tips customers will leave behind for the excellent service performed. If some people don’t tip, or tip inadequately, then a server might make less than the $8 minimum wage for a night’s work. If this happens, the restaurant is supposed to step in and make up the difference.

This means that the restaurant, in taking this “tip credit,” earns considerable savings in terms of labor costs when compared to other types of businesses. A large restaurant with 20 servers can save over $700 a night, passing the cost of the waitstaff onto the consumer, who can decide on their own whether or not to pay for the service. Tipping is not mandatory, after all.

There is another advantage the $2.89 per hour wage confers to restaurant management. Every restaurant has a list of duties that servers must perform in addition to waiting on tables. This is called side work, and servers are paid $2.89 to perform these tasks, even though these tasks, if performed in any other work environment would require the employer to pay $8.

Under the law, side work must be “incidental” to an employee’s tip producing activities, but there is no set of rules outlining what is or is not incidental. The Department of Labor’s Field Operations Handbook says that servers may spend some time cleaning and setting tables, making coffee, and occasionally washing dishes or glasses at the lower rate provided such duties are incidental to their regular server duties. “However, where the facts indicate that specific employees are routinely assigned to maintenance, or that tipped employees spend a substantial amount of time (in excess of 20 percent) performing general work or maintenance, no tip credit may be taken for the time spent in such duties.”

The 20% rule is often abused by management. Servers can be required to show up an hour before the restaurant opens, and perform a full hour of “incidental” and preparatory work before a customer is even allowed in the store, as long as they then proceed to work four more hours on the floor serving customers. As I Got Stiffed, a service industry blog puts it, “For those unlucky enough to be required to show up a full hour before the first table could ever be sat, this means an hour full of cutting lemons, flipping chairs, rolling silverware, setting up the salad and soup area, checking/cleaning the bathroom, stocking the bar, brewing coffee, brewing tea, and/or sweeping/mopping messes on the floor left by the night shift.”

On the other end of the day are the closing duties, and service staff could end up performing an hour of labor, “rolling endless amounts of silverware, cleaning and stocking your section as well as other fun stuff like restocking the wait station, cleaning the bathroom, etc.”

This kind of work is a bargain at less than $3 an hour.

Side work may be legal, but it should be a crime to pay someone under $3 an hour to perform the duties of a busser or dishwasher, who by law earns $8 an hour. Not only does this system steal money from servers, it steals potential work hours from maintenance staff and those the restaurant would be required to pay at a higher rate. It creates a perverse incentive for restaurant mangers to come up with ways by which to justify servers performing tasks that have nothing to do with customer service.

Side work is a pernicious form of legal theft that favors management at the expense of the worker, and the regulations and laws that allow this practice need to be changed.

March 20, 2014

Protest to end wage theft at McDonalds in Providence

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The fight for a fair and equitable minimum wage shifted gears yesterday as protests were executed across the country against “wage theft.” Though it’s difficult to get an exact number, it is estimated that wage theft protests occurred at some thirty McDonald’s locations in cities across the country, including Providence, where about thirty protesters rallied on Broad St.

Wage theft comes in many forms. According to WageTheft.org, “Common forms of wage theft are non-payment of overtime, not giving workers their last paycheck after a worker leaves a job, not paying for all the hours worked, not paying minimum wage, and even not paying a worker at all.”

Prominent lawsuits are being filed in California, Michigan and New York, and McDonald’s is being targeted “because of its size and position as an industry leader,” according to the Huffington Post.

At the McDonald’s located at 343 Broad St, participants met outside on the sidewalk and prepared their signs. After a short motivational speech by Jesse Strecker, director at Jobs With Justice, the protesters approached the McDonald’s with the intent of asking management to make a commitment against wage theft. McDonald’s management refused to answer the protesters and instead locked them out of the restaurant and called the police.

When the police arrived the peaceful protest moved to the sidewalk, where fast food worker Joanne gave an impassioned talk about trying to live at poverty wages while working for an exploitative fast food industry that maximizes profits over the wellbeing of its employees.

March 6, 2013March 6, 2013

Some Wage Theft Doesn’t Get Prosecuted In RI

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Even when wage theft is reported in Rhode Island, it isn’t always prosecuted, says Patrick Pierce who lost $1,000 when he didn’t get paid construction for a job he found on Craigslist

His employer, he told Dave Fisher last night at the State House, had already been extradited from Florida to Rhode Island on similar accusations of wage theft. (Maybe instead of being so worried about Rhode Islanders moving to Florida we should be concerned with the Floridians who are coming to Rhode Island)

But here’s the real kicker. Rhode Island doesn’t seem to care about the crime. Even after doing his own research and trying to use the system to recover his confiscated wages, he was told in a letter that the state won’t prosecute.

According to Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, investigations of wage theft begin with the Department of Labor and Training. It is unclear if the AG’s office has a policy of not investigating wage fraud for less than $1,500, as Pierce says in the video. This post will be updated when we know more.

Fuerza Laboral, a grassroots labor organizing group in Central Falls, is pushing for more awareness of wage theft crimes. Pierce was at a State House press conference yesterday.

Here’s our post from yesterday on wage theft, and how I have experienced wage theft (you probably have too!!). In June, we ran a post on wage theft in the restaurant industry.

If you feel you’ve been the victim of wage theft, please tell us your story in the comment section below.

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