Wage theft

Greetings my fellow Observers,

The Republican Party is adamant about reducing government while allowing the "private section" to manage this countries workforce without government oversight. There are stories galore that proves that this is a dreadful idea. The following story is a despicable example of what the "private sector" does, on a  regular basis to its workers.

Jose Luis Cazares and Marina Torres cleaned the Regal Cinema theaters at LA Live for more than six years while working 11 hour shifts seven days a week.

The couple complained to the California Labor Commission that despite the long hours, they received checks from the Regal Cinema's subcontractor for the same amount, $ 700 dollars, twice a month which is well below the minimum wage and excluding overtime. These hardworking people also reported that sometimes their checks came late and bounced.

Five years after filing their complaint, Cazares and Marina are still waiting on $ 83,000 in back pay. In 2013, a UCLA study by its labor center found that only 17% of workers prevailed against their employers were able to recover any back pay. In 60% of the cases, the employers had changed names or transferred assets to avoid liability.

In the case of Cazares and Marina, this is exactly what their employer did. They changed their name from "Coast to Coast West, Inc., to "NLP Janitorial" with all of the management remaining the same. When contacted by the Californians Labor Commission" neither Regal Theaters nor NLP returned calls or emails.

By changing its name, "NLP"  has evaded State orders to repay
$ 1.7 million dollars to unpaid workers across California. The current California law states that legal liability only extends to subcontractors in a particular industry. A new law being proposed would make companies jointly responsible.

When many of these short changed and cheated workers complained, they were either fired or had their work hours drastically reduced.  

This is an ongoing battle and the California Legislature is aggressively trying to remedy the very egregious miscarriage of justice, but as expected, the Republicans in the state's government are fighting this new law.

This is overtly cheating workers out of their wages and the Republican Party wants to prevent the government from intervening on behalf of the workers in this state. This crime is not only being committed in California, but across the nation and anyone who allows this to continue should be ashamed of themselves as they are voted out of office.

Mad Man