Off the record, the question or questions surrounding illegal immigration are one of our most asked questions. One may assume these questions are coming from Sunbelt states such as Florida or Texas. This is a false assumption as the two articles below point out.
According to reports from the Pew Hispanic Center approximately 1 out 3 employees working in the construction or labor fields, agriculture are illegal and 1 out of 5 employees were illegals in the office and house cleaning, hotel/motel and other service oriented jobs. A few statistics lean towards the more dangerous a job, the higher concentration of illegal workers are found in that workforce.
According to a January story in the Boston area,
Outraged at his low pay and uncompensated overtime, an illegal alien in Boston filed a complaint with the Massachusetts attorney general's office against a supermarket – and won his case.
According to an off the record interview, the illegal employee was sick and tired of below average wages and never collecting a nickel for overtime worked.
The supermarket that employed him, was ordered to provide back pay and fines of $200,000 to more than 300 workers
The worker and illegal immigrant was a father of five,and reported he worked 14 hours every day, six days a week since 2004 at the $6 rate. The owner of the supermarket was himself an immigrant and stated as business owners they were not aware of their state labor laws
If this supermarket owner enlisted the help of First Place Employer Services and one of our partner PEOs, he very well may have avoided this expensive and costly nightmare.
A PEO is a company that contractually assumes and manages critical human resource and personnel responsibilities and employer risks for businesses. The PEO assumes the employer responsibility for employment tax, payroll processing, benefit plans, and other human resource purposes.
PEOs enable clients to cost-effectively outsource the management of human resources, employee benefits, payroll and workers' compensation. PEO clients are then able to better focus on their core competencies to maintain and grow their bottom line.
Businesses today need help managing increasingly complex employee-related matters such as health benefits, workers' compensation claims, payroll, payroll tax compliance and unemployment insurance claims. They contract with a PEO to assume these responsibilities and provide expertise in human resources management. This allows the PEO client to concentrate on the operational and revenue-producing side of its operations.
And not to be out done, a story from the Progressive Grocer sheds more light on this real and serious situation.
Hundreds of janitors in California have joined a class action lawsuit against Safeway, Albertsons, Vons and Ralph's supermarkets, as well as Encompass Staffing Services and its subsidiary, Building One Service Solutions, accusing them of paying cleaners less than minimum wage and making them work excessive hours without overtime pay, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The janitors and their attorneys have started an outreach program in San Francisco and Los Angeles to find more of the thousands of workers they estimate could join the suit as plaintiffs. According to lawyers, a large number of the janitors are immigrants with little knowledge of U.S. labor laws.
The lawsuit, Flores v. Albertsons, claims that the workers are illegally referred to as independent contractors, although the supermarkets make up their schedules and oversee their work. That arrangement, according to the suit, has saved the chains millions of dollars in overtime pay, payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance.
The suit is seeking $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
If you have a question regarding this post or are not sure of your State's labor lawsw and how they relate to payment of wages or overtime E-mail your questions concerning wages or illegal employees in the workplace to a trusted advisor and we will respond within 24 hours firstplacerightchoice@1stplacemployer.com
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