Last November,
Houston City Council adopted a labor ordinance in order to protect workers and to
discourage companies from attempting wage theft. Under this ordinance, any firm
or person that is found guilty of committing wage theft will be banned from renewing
46 types of permits, licenses, and warrants issued by the city. Not only will
they not be able to renew these authorizations, firms will appear on a public
database that will allow potential employees to know which companies have been
convicted. Up until recently, few complaints have been filed. Just this week, one
of the first to file a complaint under the new ordinance was Erik Lopez and his
3 brothers who claim to have been victims of wage theft.
Erik and his
brothers have worked 80-hour weeks doing manual construction labor throughout
Texas without proper compensation by their employer: Bradley Demolition and Construction. According to Erik, the company did
not follow proper Texas labor law protocols. They were denied tax forms,
overtime pay, and unfortunately given cash or personal checks to stay off the
company’s books. This is a major issue in the workforce due to the fact that
most employees do not file complaints which means that companies will continue
to take advantage of workers. Labor laws are in place to help deter employers
from exploiting employees. It becomes an issue in the labor workforce when
workers are so afraid that they are not even willing to file complaints.
According to Executive Director of Faith and Justice Worker Center, Laura Perez-Boston, nearly 100 wage theft complaints are
filed on a daily basis. This may seem like a lot; however she states that this
is just a very small portion of the people who have been dealing with this
problem.
Compliance
with Texas labor laws has been a progressing issue within the last year. This
past February, a lawsuit was launched against Wessam Aldeeb, who is a Principal
of Franchise Operations with stores throughout Texas. Some stores under this
franchise include Subway, Great American Cookies, and Marble Slab Creamery.
Like Erik Lopez, employees of Wessam claim that they have been denied overtime
pay on several occasions. Wessam debated these accusations stating that they
care about their employees and would not violate any regulations. The lawsuit
was backed by 125 current and former workers who are defending the claims.
Hopefully with the new ordinance implemented, companies will be more compliant
with all labor laws. For more information regarding Texas labor laws visit http://www.usalaborlawposters.com/