Karen Morfitt
July 8, 2023
Having worked in the construction industry for several years, Edgar Jauregui has met a lot of people and heard a lot of stories.
“They are willing to walk from their country all the way over here. You can tell they are going to do whatever it takes to change their lives,” he said.
As a representative for the Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents about 55,000 workers, he’s also become an advocate for the immigrant community.
Recently, their concerns have centered largely around wage theft.
“They don’t get paid overtime after 40 hours and some other ones, they just don’t get paid at all. And they keep working because they have a promise that they are going to be paid for the next week,” Jauregui said.
Wage theft is the illegal practice of underpaying or not paying workers or providing benefits laid out in a contract or required by law.
In Denver complaints can be made both to the City Auditor’s Office and the Denver City Attorney’s office, where Brian Snow is an investigator.
“It’s definitely on the increase,” he told CBS News Colorado. “Our migrant population is disproportionately impacted by this,” he said.