From Low Wage to No Wage

Bill Beardall

On Nov. 18, to mark the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft, the Equal Justice Center and the University of Texas School of Law's Transnational Worker Rights Clinic announced the filing of two wage-theft lawsuits on behalf of 20 low-wage workers. According to a release issued by the center, the suits, filed against Raintree Con­struc­tion Inc. and Angel Painting Ser­vices, are collective class action suits asking the courts to allow 40 other workers to join the lawsuits. The workers charge that they were denied overtime pay despite often working 70 hours a week or more, and then were denied any pay at all for some of their work. In all, they estimate the unpaid wages at "well over a hundred thousand dollars."

Brandon Beasley, attorney for Raintree Construction, told the Chronicle, "In a nutshell, the allegations are false, and the truth will come out in court." He also denounced the EJC press release as "false and defamatory," denied all of EJC's charges, and continued: "The press release is an obvious attempt to manipulate the outcome of the lawsuit and deprive Raintree Construction, Inc. of a fair trial. Raintree Construction, Inc. paid these employees wages in excess of the minimum wage and as much as three times the minimum wage in some cases, and all in accordance with applicable law. Raintree Construction, Inc. does not condone the practice of any employer paying below minimum wage. Raintree Construction, Inc. conducts itself in all of its affairs in a legal and ethical fashion and does not know why it has been attacked with state resources with these baseless charges."

Attempts to reach Angel Painting Services were unsuccessful.

According to EJC Executive Director Bill Beardall, "It has become increasingly common for workers like these to be cheated by employers who exploit the specific vulnerabilities of low-wage workers who often do not know their employment rights or may be reluctant to exercise their rights for fear of losing their employment lifeline in these hard times."

The Workers Defense Project marked the day of action with a "Unity Dinner" at 5604 Manor; the WDP said it receives an average of 60 complaints a week of wage theft, and it has recovered $120,000 in unpaid wages for 100 low-income families this year. A WDP release cited a national study showing that 26% of low-wage workers were being paid less than the legal minimum wage, and 76% of workers weren't being paid earned overtime.