29/04/2021
Biden called on to protect immigrant wage theft whistleblowers | Nevada Current
Unforgettable Coatings is appealing the injunction and awaiting adjudication of the wage and hour
case, which Summerhays says he’s confident he will win.
“I am a competitor and in my opinion they don’t want me around,” Summerhays said of the
painters’ union. He says he’s been the target of incessant bullying and maintains he pays his
employees legally for the piece work they perform on projects that last months at a time.
The company operates in Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Utah.
Last year, federal Judge Kent Dawson wrote in his order that Unforgettable Coatings tried “not
only to silence their workers, but also to actively manipulate them to provide false information to
the government’s investigators.”
“When workers are first hired, Defendants advise them that they will not be paid overtime
premiums, but they will make a flat $12 to $25 per hour — not minimum wage,” Dawson
wrote. “DOL investigators showed Defendants’ pay stubs demonstrating how an individual
worker’s gross pay, when divided by the number of hours worked, always showed the worker
being paid the worker’s straight time regular rate for all his hours worked — regardless of the
number of overtime hours worked.”
Payroll records reviewed by the Current last year indicate entry-level painters were being
underpaid by approximately $1,900 a year.
Former and current employees who spoke to the Current last year say the company has two work
crews — one with documented workers who report to projects where their identification is checked
in accordance with prevailing wage rules — and another made up of undocumented employees,
who earn a fraction of their colleagues’ wage.
Summerhays denies the allegation and says he has very little turnover among his employees, who
earn between $15 and $25 an hour, he says.
The company employed union workers at $50 an hour when it worked on Allegiant Stadium, which
was funded in part with $750 million in room tax revenue.
Unforgettable Coatings came to the attention of union officials on that job, according to Bill
Stanley of the Southern Nevada Building Trades.
“We had numerous problems with them on the job site. We had numerous grievances filed,” said
Stanley.
Summerhays says last week he settled the stadium dispute with the union, agreeing to pay three
employees $1,000 each on original demands of $15,000 to $20,000. He says he also agreed to
donate $20,000 to charity.
“The bigger story is how far will they go to disparage and completely attempt to ruin my
company?” Summerhays asked rhetorically.
Segerblom and the activists from Arriba, a workers’ rights organization, want President Joe Biden
to provide deferred action status and work authorization for whistleblowers who report their
employers for wage theft.
“Wage theft is a rampant problem in the non-union construction industry and it drives down
standards for all workers,” says a statement from the Laborers International Union of North
America.
https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2021/04/06/biden-called-on-to-protect-immigrant-wage-theft-whistleblowers/?fbclid=IwAR3dwnmdKJmO8XaDyjW…
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