23/10/2020
CLN Helps Construction Workers Fight Wage Theft – The Catholic Labor Network
Two immigrant construction workers in Washington DC
have led a class action lawsuit against CBG, one of
Washington DC’s largest general contractors, for wage
theft, and others are stepping up to join them. Workers
employed by multiple CBG subcontractors have been
denied overtime pay, paid less than the DC minimum
wage, or both.
“I was paid $12 per hour,” said Ivan (right), a sheet
metal worker who helped install air conditioning
ductwork at Eckington Place, a high-end mixed-use
development under construction in Northeast DC. The
legal minimum wage in Washington DC was $14/hour
when Ivan started the job in February 2020, and it’s
$15/hour now. “Jimmy [the recruiter] told me that if I
learned fast I would get a raise, but I never did.”
Catholic Labor Network eld organizer Ernesto Galeas
has visited CBG construction sites across the city,
nding that Ivan’s situation is hardly unusual.
Subcontractors on these jobs routinely paid
employees as if they were independent contractors to
evade detection when violating minimum wage or
overtime laws. Galeas assisted the workers in
gathering evidence and ling a class action lawsuit
against CBG on behalf of all employees of CBG
subcontractors.
“I asked my boss why I was being paid less than the DC
minimum wage,” said Carmen, a drywall nisher
working for a different subcontractor at the Eckington
Place job. “He told me that he didn’t owe me an
explanation and that if I didn’t like the wage I could
leave.”
Carmen said she often worked overtime, but was never
paid time and a half as required by law.
The case was led in DC Superior Court against the
multi-million dollar general contractor on behalf of all
workers employed by CBG subcontractors in the
District of Columbia. DC law permits victims of wage
theft by subcontractors to le suit against the general
contractor.
catholiclabor.org/2020/10/cln-helps-construction-workers-fight-wage-theft/
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