Motion to protect day laborers
Ariel Edwards Levy | 10-27-2009 | Comments |
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Day laborers are among the most vulnerable American workers. Many are underpaid or not paid at all. A new measure by City Councilmember Richard Alarcon would make L.A. the first city in the country to criminalize withholding wages. Findings from the UCLA study:
-- 26% of workers were paid less than the legally required minimum wage in the previous work week-of those, 60% were underpaid by more than $1 per hour.
-- More than 25% of respondents worked more than 40 hours the previous week, but of those, 76% were not paid legally required overtime
--Nearly a quarter of workers came in early or stayed late on their shifts. Of those workers, 70% received no additional pay.
--86% of respondents worked enough to be legally entitled to a meal break, but 69% of them received no break, or had a shorter break
--43% of workers who complained to employers or attempted to form unions were illegally retaliated against by employers who fired or suspended them, threatened to call immigration, or threatened to cut hours or pay.
--20% Twenty percent of workers said they did not make complaints despite suffering a serious problem because they were afraid of losing their jobs or having their hours cut, or because they did not think it would make a difference
Listen to this report by Ariel Edwards Levy of Annenberg Radio News.
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