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Worker Stories
08 Sunday Nov 2020
Posted in News
Category Archives: News
AB 3075 (Gonzalez)
20 Wednesday May 2020
The Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition is a co-sponsor of AB 3075 (Gonzalez), a bill that prevents companies who don’t pay wage theft judgments from reopening under a new name to avoid paying what they owe. Thanks to our South Bay contingent including Ma Teresa Brillante who told her story so effectively and the organizations who signed letters and provided “me too” statements of support at the committee meeting including Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), Day Worker Center of Mountain View, Somos Mayfair, LUNA – Latinos United for a New America, San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, Fight for $15, Vietnamese American Roundtable, Maiz San Jose and PAWIS. #PayUpBeforeYouStartUp
SEIU California
For Immediate Release
May 19, 2020
Contact: Mike Roth, 916.813.1554
Maria Elena Jauregui, Spanish-language, 818.355.5291
Assembly Banking Committee Tells Unscrupulous Businesses:
“Pay Up Before You Start Up”
Passes AB 3075 to prevent wage theft as economy re-opens
Sacramento, CA — The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today applauded the Assembly Banking Committee’s approval of AB 3075 (Gonzalez) by a more than 2-1 margin. The bill prevents companies who’ve exploited the global pandemic to cheat their workers from reopening under a new name to avoid paying what they owe their employees.
“Since March, workers across California – low-wage workers, workers of color, and immigrant workers, have been laid off and are still owed back pay; they must be paid every cent that is owed them. As our economy reopens, we must make sure to close the loopholes that allow the minority of unscrupulous employers to cheat workers,” said David Huerta, president of SEIU United Service Workers West and an SEIU California executive board member.
Wage theft occurs when bosses cheat workers out of hours worked, don’t pay the minimum wage or deny overtime pay. Employers use these tactics to steal an estimated $2 billion per year from their workers each year in California, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Workers like Tess and Luz Maria who work in low-wage jobs and workers who are Black, brown and API workers face higher levels of exploitation.
One reason just 17% of workers who’ve received a court judgment in their favor secure any repayment is that it is easy to simply close up shop and open under a new name. AB 3075 begins to remedy this by requiring anyone who wishes to incorporate to sign an affidavit attesting that they don’t have any outstanding wage judgments.
Too many businesses who closed up shop in the pandemic sent workers home without their last paychecks – and shouldn’t be allowed to re-open until those workers are made whole.
“We are struggling in my community and barely surviving,” said Rosa Lopez, a janitor from San Diego. “Any time a boss steals money from a low-wage worker, it’s hard – but now, in this pandemic, it is a catastrophe. Anyone who has stolen from workers should not be allowed to reopen under a new name.”
Read more on the PAWIS website https://pawis-sv.com/2020/08/22/pawis-workers-push-for-ab-3075-to-hold-employers-accountable-for-paying-wage-theft-judgments/
The County of Santa Clara launches the Food Permit Enforcement Program
28 Thursday Nov 2019
Posted in News
As a result of the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition’s advocacy and recommendations in its 2014 Wage Theft Report, The County of Santa Clara launched the Food Permit Enforcement Program, a new enforcement tool to help fight for worker rights and fair wages. The County’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) and the Department of Environmental Health (DEH) launched the Food Permit Enforcement Program, through which OLSE and DEH will exercise the County’s authority to suspend food permits from vendors with outstanding wage theft judgments. The new program is one of several efforts OLSE is implementing to address a pervasive problem that is disproportionately affecting vulnerable employees, many of them immigrants, women and low-wage workers.
See the 2014Wage Theft Report https://www.sccgov.org/sites/owp/econ-adv/Documents/wage-theft-report-final-2014.pdf
Milpitas City Council adopted Ordinance No. 295!
28 Thursday Nov 2019
Posted in News
As a result of the advocacy of the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition, on March 20, 2018, Milpitas City Council adopted Ordinance No. 295 establishing a City-wide Wage Theft Policy. Now the City of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, and Morgan Hill all have wage theft policies and ordinances.
The City of Milpitas issued the following press release which states in part:
“All businesses in the City of Milpitas which are required to have a business license are subject to the new wage theft ordinance.”
The new ordinance gives the City the ability to revoke or suspend the business license of any employer who refuses to pay their final court order or administrative action when found by a Local, State or Federal agency in violation of wage or hour laws. Without a business license an employer would effectively not be able to operate in the City of Milpitas.
Mt. View’s Resource Fair
28 Thursday Nov 2019
Posted in News
The Wage Theft Coalition tabled at the Day Worker Center of Mt. View’s Resource Fair on November 17, 2019.
We Did It! San Jose adopts the Wage Theft Ordinance unanimously!
03 Sunday Jul 2016
Posted in News
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Press Release – PRESS CONFERENCE TO DEMAND END TO WAGE THEFT AT SUNNYVALE’S CRAZY BUFFET
22 Thursday Jan 2015
Posted in News
Tags
crazy buffet, crazy buffet direction, end wage theft, low wage workers, pawis, san jose, santa clara county, stop wage theft, sunnyvale, wage theft coalition, wage theft is a crime
PRESS RELEASE
21 January 2015
Media Contact:
Ruth Silver Taube
SANTA CLARA COUNTY WAGE THEFT COALITION HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE TO DEMAND END TO WAGE THEFT AT SUNNYVALE’S CRAZY BUFFET
San Jose, California -The Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition is holding a press conference on Saturday, January 24th, 2015 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Crazy Buffet, 830 East El Camino Avenue, Sunnyvale to demand that the restaurant satisfy the Santa Clara County Superior Court wage theft judgment for wages owed to Jose Santos Rivera and to work with the Labor Commission to ensure that Crazy Buffet satisfies the 20 other wage theft judgments against it on file in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
According to a November 25, 2014 press release, California Labor Commissioner, Julie Su, issued a citation for $1.6 million against Crazy Buffet within the last 2 years and citations for minimum wage violations in 2007 and 2010.On January 12, 2014, the Labor Commission held another citation hearing against Crazy Buffet seeking almost $100,000,000 in fines.
“We want to let Crazy Buffet know that we won’t tolerate any wage theft in Santa Clara County, let alone this kind of outrageous wage theft,,” said Ruth Silver Taube, Co- Chair of the Coalition’s Policy Committee and Supervising Attorney of the Workers’ Rights Clinic at the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center “We urge everyone to attend the rally and press conference and support the workers who are victims of wage theft.”
“This is the first of ongoing actions we will be conducting to let irresponsible businesses know that they cannot continue exploiting workers,” said Michael Tayag, an organizer with PAWIS (Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants) and Outreach Co-Chair of the Coalition.
“Wage theft is a crime. It hurts workers, their families, and responsible businesses who can’t compete with wage theft violators who don’t pay workers. Wage theft must stop,” said Adriana Garcia, a MAIZ and SIREN Board member and co-chair of the Coalition’s Outreach Committee.
Parking
There is parking in front of Crazy Buffet and in the Safeway parking lot across the road. Program will be provided on the day of.
About
The Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition addresses wage theft in Santa Clara County. Its primary goal is to create an environment where workers are paid the wages they earn and responsible businesses do not face unfair competition because of illegal practices. The Coalition seeks to strengthen member organizations that support workers by bringing visibility to their efforts and to workers’ stories. The Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition, convened in 2013 at the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center, includes community-based and worker-based organizations, legal advocacy organizations,, unions, and other entities:
Active Members include:
· Asian Americans for Community Involvement
· International Children Assistance Network
· Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center
· Movimiento de Acción, Inspirando Servicio
· Mountain View Day Laborer Center
· Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants
· 9TO5
· Services, Immigrant Rights, & Education Network
· Workplace Justice Initiative
· CAIR
· WorkSafe
· Justice at Work Law Group
· Working Partnerships USA
· Laborers’ Local 270
· Santa Clara Building Trades Council
. International Migrants Alliance
http://wagetheftcoalition.com/
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