Fielkow proposal would make wage theft a crime
by Richard A. Webster

New Orleans City Councilman Arnie Fielkow’s proposal to criminalize wage theft is designed to protect migrant workers from unscrupulous contractors.

But Hispanic advocates claim it will also protect legitimate businesses outside the construction industry.

Wage theft not only hurts trade workers, it also hurts the network of local businesses they frequent, said Luz Molina, a Loyola University law professor.

Migrant workers send a large portion of their paychecks to their families but they also spend large sums of money in New Orleans on rent, transportation and food. If a contractor refuses to pay a worker promised wages, he is not only robbing the individual but the many businesses that would have benefited from that money, she said.

A recent survey of 300 Hispanic day laborers indicated they had worked 12,000 unpaid days and lost $400,000 in wages, according to the New Orleans Congress of Day Laborers.

Under state and federal law, wage theft is a civil offense with disputes often settled in small claims court. Fielkow’s proposal would make it a criminal offense, allowing police to arrest alleged offenders.

The city needs to crack down on wage theft because it creates an unfair advantage for contractors who engage in the practice, said Ted Quant, director of Loyola’s Twomey Center of Peace Through Justice.

Legitimate businesses pay fair wages, workers’ compensation, insurance and taxes, driving up their costs. But the businesses employing and then robbing undocumented workers have none of those expenses, Quant said.

“How can you compete with that? The legitimate business will have to reduce wages and cut benefits. And eventually they may go out of business because they can’t compete with the criminals,” Quant said.

For those same reasons, the AFL-CIO stands firmly behind the Hispanic workers and supports Fielkow’s ordinance, said Lorenzo Scott, a national field representative and New Orleans native.

Wes Wyman, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans, agrees that wage theft and the hiring of illegal immigrants creates an uneven playing field. But he says the answer is not an ordinance providing special protections for the very same workers engaging in a criminal enterprise.

Not only is it inherently unfair, but Wyman said it will prove ineffective because it is difficult to prove who is telling the truth when dealing with an illegal business based on cash transactions and no signed contracts.

“Are you going to take a guy’s word who has no insurance or documentation over a contractor’s word? Who’s to say the guy didn’t go out there and screw up the job? You can’t prosecute on hearsay, so what’s the point?”

Passing an ordinance to protect workers who are circumventing the law is an insult to every business operating legally, Wyman said.

“My main problem is that they’re illegal, not as in illegal aliens, but illegal because they’re working for cash under the table. They’re dodging the law.”

Fielkow defends his proposal as a sensible and forceful way to address wage theft and the hiring of illegal immigrants.

“I think this sends a strong message to contractors that before they hire workers they should comply with our federal law and check papers,” Fielkow said. “They shouldn’t be hiring illegals. But if they do make the hire, you can’t just not pay these people. It’s immoral and unethical. It’s just wrong.”

Despite the ethical and legal problems that arise from the hiring of undocumented workers, the presence of Hispanics in the construction work force has been steadily growing. The increase in their numbers reflects a shrinking pool of homegrown workers, said Ken Naquin, CEO of Louisiana Associated General Contractors.

“There’s a segment of the American population that doesn’t want to work outside and doesn’t want to sweat or get dirty,” Naquin said. “We hire folks who are here legally and want to work, and (Hispanics) seem to want to work.”•