EXPLOITED FACTORY WORKERS STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE

After a year and a half of litigation, a local school principal willfully ignored a court-approved settlement agreement and continues to fail to pay tens of thousands of dollars to various former employees in unpaid wages. In July of 2010, former workers of a local pallet-making factory, Pallets of El Paso, filed a lawsuit in federal court for egregious violations of minimum wage law and retaliation. Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project represents the aggrieved workers. We worked hard and often made under $5 an hour for our work. This is not a legal wage, nor is it a just wage that allowed us to provide for our families. When we brought up our pay with our employer, he would threaten us and tell us that we didnt have rights, said Luis Elias Duran, a former employee of the company. A week before federal trial, the parties entered into an agreement that was approved by Judge Kathleen Cardone. After signing the document and dismissing the matter in federal court, the owner of the factory failed to make the required payments. When the first payment was due just three weeks later, the workers were shocked that the employer did not pay, thus breaching the agreement. With the added complication that the pallets factory is in New Mexico, PCRP asked the court to appoint a receiver to collect on the judgment. This receiver will have the power to pry into the business and hopefully collect what the workers are owed. Assuming this method is successful, the use of a receiver should assist us in future cases. The case of Pallets of El Paso demonstrates how delayed justice can be for workers who suffer from wage theft. After years of working for less than minimum wage, the workers are still waiting to receive what they were always owed. For this reason, PCRP is committed to fighting and preventing wage theft in our border region.