Backlog of Wage Theft Complaints Prompts Call for More Labor Inspectors
Francisco Uranga,
HARTFORD — When Alida Arreaga tried to cash her paycheck,
she said it bounced due to a lack of funds, marking the second consecutive
payment failure from her Hartford-based restaurant job. So last Friday, she
filed a wage theft complaint with the state Department of Labor.
“Wage theft is disgraceful and impacts our members’ ability
to stay healthy and housed and care for their families,” Arreaga said
Tuesday during
a public hearing of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, which
discussed a proposal
to increase the number of wage and hour inspectors for the DOL.
There are a wide variety of cases that qualify as wage theft
under state and federal regulations, ranging from paying below minimum wage,
not recognizing overtime and not receiving a paycheck. This practice frequently
affects migrant workers, like Arreaga and a dozen other Spanish speakers who
testified at the public hearing, who said they fear the consequences if they
complain to a government agency. Some of the undocumented workers testified
that their employers threatened to deport them for claiming stolen wages.
But due to a high
volume of wage violation claims, the DOL is facing a monthslong backlog.
The bill aims to solve this problem by doubling the department’s staff by
mid-2026, employing at least 45 inspectors. The proposal did not specify how
much it would cost to hire the additional workers.
“Gov. Ned Lamont understands the concerns of those who want
the state to hire additional inspectors to accelerate reviews of claims related
to wage and hour laws,” said Julia Bergman, spokesperson for the governor. But
she added that any adjustment in staffing levels needed to be part of the
state’s final budget.
Bella Jiménez Vázquez, a construction worker, said
she experienced wage theft two years ago after her employer did not
pay overtime and failed to pay her and her co-workers for the last few weeks on
the job.
“I am a single mother and I have to support my two minor
children who depend on me. Since I did not get paid for several weeks and I did
not work for a while, I had to ask for a loan with very high interest that I am
still paying today,” Jiménez Vázquez said during the hearing. “It is not fair
that employers steal from us in such a cynical way and that the authorities do
nothing.”
Jiménez Vázquez complained to the DOL, but said she was told
they could not take her case if she didn’t have a Social Security number.
“The department employee was wrong. We immigrant workers
have rights, we work and pay taxes just like everyone else,” she said.
“Employers that steal wages are criminals and should be treated as such.”
Between 2019 and 2022, the state DOL ordered employers to
pay $17 million in stolen wages after investigations, the
CT Mirror reported. Industries with the most such claims included
restaurants and home health care services, particularly concentrated in
Fairfield County.
However, not all workers file claims due to fear of
retaliation.
Jenny Cornejo, a member of the migrant organization Unidad
Latina en Acción, said she accompanied a friend to claim an outstanding
paycheck. After an argument, the employer allegedly returned with a gun and
yelled at her friend to “get out of here, illegal immigrant. I’ll call the
police because you’re invading my house,” Cornejo
testified on Tuesday. She said her friend later filed a claim with the
DOL in 2021 but has yet to hear back.
The average backlog is eight months for Wage and Hours
Division claims, according
to inspector Emilio Theodoratos. The main reason for the delays is the lack
of staffing, he said, which not only hurts workers who make claims but also
employers who don’t fully understand their responsibilities.
“Proper staffing would expand our abilities to conduct
outreach and have more of a proactive approach to preventing wage and hour
violations,” Theodoratos said. “If we have the capacity to conduct seminars to
educate not only employers but employees, I believe the number of violations
could be decreased.”
Currently, the division has 21 inspectors, seven of whom
speak Spanish. The bill requires the department to employ at least 22 wage and
hour inspectors by Oct. 1 and have at least 45 inspectors by June 2026.
Hiring more Spanish-speaking inspectors is one of the
demands supported by Bridgeport resident Iván Abarca, a Connecticut Worker
Center member and victim of wage theft. Abarca said he was hired to do painting
and carpentry work, but was never paid. With the help of the Connecticut Worker
Center, a grassroots organization that supports migrants, he filed a complaint
with the DOL.
“I was afraid to talk to a government agency. Fortunately,
one of the investigators spoke my language. I can’t imagine how difficult it
would have been if I had to speak through interpreters. He understood my
language and my culture,” Abarca said during the hearing. “Having more
inspectors in our language would help us defend our rights. In this session,
you have the chance to make a real change.”
Waterford selectmen approve hiring of manager to oversee firehouse project
Daniel Drainville
Waterford ― The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved
spending $306,650 to hire a program manager who will oversee the construction
of the new Oswegatchie firehouse.
“That person will really end up being the representative of
Waterford,” said Robert Tuneski, chair of the Oswegatchie Fire Station Building
Committee.
Downes Construction Co. of New Britain will develop bids,
review construction drawings, assist in the selection of the building
contractor and oversee the day-to-day construction while reporting back to the
building committee.
The appropriation still has to be approved by the Board of
Finance and Representative Town Meeting. Last month the RTM approved the town’s purchase of the
Oswegatchie Fire Company’s land and current building for $1, and
allocated an additional $127,000 for building designs.
The building committee interviewed three candidates for the
job before voting 5-2 to select Downes Construction, Tuneski said.
“These guys have a lot of internal expertise,” he told
selectmen Tuesday night, adding the firm was also the low bidder.
Asked by First Selectman Rob Brule about the project’s
impact on taxpayers, Tuneski said constructing a new building is only one of
the options.
He disputed information from RTM and fellow building
committee member Ted Olynciw about the building’s cost. Last month, Olynciw
sent a letter to the RTM that calculated the cost of a 13,350-square-foot
station, the size designed in 2018, at $12.1 million. But Tuneski said the
final cost could end up being much less as the committee has yet to make
decisions about the size and features of the building.
“Hopefully, that’s the case,” he added.
East Hartford makes $760,000 in state funds available to Church Corners redevelopment
Adeveloper picked by the town of East Hartford for the
tricky redevelopment of a historic, but rundown downtown building into a modern
24-unit apartment building can now access $760,000 in state grant funds.
That’s what remains of a $2.5 million state grant the town
received in 2022 to advance redevelopment efforts for the Church Corners Inn
building at 860 Main St.
East Hartford’s Town Council, on Tuesday, unanimously agreed
to grant access to those funds to developer Parker Benjamin – who was selected
as a development partner on the project last year. The Unionville-based
developer specializes in adaptive reuse.
Church Corners had once been a lodging house with a high-end
restaurant, but devolved into a board house that was an epicenter for drug use
and petty crime, resulting in thousands of police and emergency calls every
year.
Town officials used a portion of the 2022 grant to buy the
property, move tenants out and perform some pre-development work. Now, Parker
Benjamin has access to the remaining $760,000 to advance the project, even
before it takes ownership of the property.
Parker Benjamin’s plan calls for 24 apartments built over
retail space. The company wants to install a restaurant on the first floor, but
the retail space could be carved up in various ways, noted Dimitri Karouta, the
company’s director of development. He estimated the Church Corners project
could take up to 18 months after construction begins, with a budget estimate of
$5 million.
“Church Corners, historically, was an integral part of
downtown East Hartford,” Town Council Chair Richard Kehoe told the Hartford
Business Journal Wednesday. “This new project will restore Church Corners to
its former glory and is a harbinger of what we hope will also occur with
downtown East Hartford.”