Residential construction industry built on 'payroll fraud' model

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Jose Ramirez had never heard the term “wage theft,” but he knew he was being cheated when a roofing subcontractor refused to pay him.

“We finished a couple houses, roofing houses, and we tried to collect the money and the guy said, ‘I haven’t gotten paid by our boss,'” he recalls. “That was a big project. I mean, we were shingling one house, putting back shingles, moving to the next one, and eventually there was two of them where I did not get paid. I told the guy, ‘That’s it. I can’t keep working until you pay me those two houses.'”

“So they stop answering the phone, you start chasing them for the money, and then suddenly, they disappear . . . and there you go – you got two weeks without pay . . . So you have to figure out how you’re going to support your family.”

Today, Ramirez is one of the lucky ones. After seeing a billboard advertising the carpenters union, he called and signed up. He spent several years with a reputable contractor and just recently became an instructor in the training center operated by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Looking back, Ramirez realizes that not getting paid to roof two houses was just the tip of the iceberg. He was being cheated every day on the job, forced to work long hours without overtime pay. Often, he never got a paystub to track whether or not he was being paid for all the hours he worked.

Fortunately, he did not get injured on the job. Even though construction employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance, untold numbers of injured workers have been fired, left to try to get medical help on their own.

“Back in the day, I didn’t know that you had those rights,” said Ramirez. “I have friends who still work the same way. Depending on the situation that they have, some people don’t think they have a choice but to work that way. People have to make a living.”

Tens of thousands of construction workers are victims of wage theft in Minnesota ever year, but no one knows the exact number. Some of the workers are undocumented and afraid to come forward. Many, regardless of their background or citizenship status, simply don’t know that they are being cheated.

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Source: Workday Minnesota