Mexican consulate and U.S. Labor Department seek to end workplace exploitation
by: Julian Resendiz
Posted:
Aug 23, 2019 / 03:01 PM CDT
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The Mexican consulate and the U.S. Labor Department office in El Paso on Friday signed a cooperation agreement to fight wage theft and other labor violations committed against immigrants.
The consulate said it will begin a weeklong labor-rights education campaign on Monday and encourage Mexican citizens who experience workplace exploitation to file a complaint with the local Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department.
“Everyone who works in the United States, regardless of immigration status, has rights in the workplace that are guaranteed by law,” said Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon, Mexican consul general in El Paso. “We will support our community and ensure that their labor rights are being respected. This agreement allows us to send people who come to us to the appropriate (U.S.) authority.”
Jacobo Valenzuela, a representative of the Wage and Hour Division in El Paso, said his office receives some 600 labor-related complaints a year. Most complaints come from workers in the restaurant, construction and agricultural industries, he said.
Ibarra said wage-theft – which occurs when an employer short-changes an employee for hours worked, refuses to pay overtime already performed or withholds payment altogether – isn’t the only issue faced by immigrant workers on the border. The weeklong Spanish-language education campaign known as “Labor Rights Week” will also include information on filing workplace injury claims, sexual harassment and human-trafficking complaints, as well as workplace safety issues.
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