Archive for April 2014
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Reclaiming wages a tough road for temp workers
Wednesday, April 9th, 2014“…Unlike undocumented workers, Roberto Gutierrez refused to walk away from a temp job without his pay. Gutierrez, who got his GED in 2008, worked in a warehouse loading containers. When he received his first check from Eclipse staffing in 2011, he noticed that the agency paid him $57 for 12 hours of work, less than minimum wage. He decided to confront his employer. He didn’t have a pay stub because the agency paid him using a “payroll card.”
The state allows staffing agencies to pay workers using “payroll cards” but only under strict guidelines. Aside from making sure employees agree to this form of payment, companies are required to provide an itemized statement of hours worked, rate of pay and deductions for each pay period.
Eclipse staffing didn’t ask Gutierrez if he wanted to be paid with the card and didn’t provide documentation of the hours he worked, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against the agency. Warehouse Workers for Justice, an advocacy organization, helped Gutierrez and other workers file the lawsuit. Unlike some of his co-workers, he didn’t stay quiet.
“I was legitimately pissed,” the 23 year old said. “I get pretty sick of hearing, that employers do whatever they want, and we [Mexicans] will sit back and take it. That didn’t sit well with me.”
Gutierrez contacted the Warehouse Workers for Justice to get help then. He later joined a group of another six workers in a class action lawsuit against Eclipse and Mid-West Temp group for failing to pay them minimum wage and failing to pay for all the hours worked, according to the lawsuit.”