By Eugene Lee
In the early 1800s, workers in England rioted against unemployment, wage cuts and near-starvation, demanding “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s labour.” Few would think to challenge such a demand. But two centuries later, fair pay remains as elusive as ever for low wage earning workers.
Consider the case of Everardo Carrillo and Juan Chavez. Both men worked for logistics companies with warehousing operations in California. According to Chavez, “I went 28 consecutive days without a day off. There were no lunch breaks, no rest breaks. ” Carrillo said, “I once worked from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. the next day. . . If you asked questions [about pay arrangements], you could be laid off for two or three days or a week.” Carrillo, Chavez and four other workers took their employers to court in a class action suit seeking to recover more than $10 million in wage theft.
Today’s workers are facing what commentators have described as an “invisible epidemic” of wage theft. According to a survey conducted by Fast Food Forward, an advocacy group, a whopping 84% of fast food workers in New York City reported being victims of wage theft. That’s 4 out of every 5 fast food workers. Meanwhile, according to CNN Money, the number of collective lawsuits filed in federal court in 2011 alleging wage and hour violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act were up 400% from 2000 levels.
Until recently, workers who have been victims of wage theft have had the option of filing a complaint directly with the California Labor Commissioner, otherwise known as the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, or “DLSE.” The DLSE offers a number of benefits for workers over the usual route of filing a civil lawsuit: no filing fees, shorter processing times, hearings before deputy commissioners who appreciate and understand low wage worker conditions, assistance with collecting on any judgments awarded by the DLSE, streamlined evidentiary procedures, etc. For workers with wage claims too small to attract the interest of contingency fee attorneys, the DLSE may be their only feasible option.
Now that right is being threatened.
In a decision issued in October 2013, the California Supreme court held that employers can force employees who have signed arbitration agreements to give up their right to file a complaint with the DLSE. These workers must now submit their disputes to arbitrators, essentially private judges. As any attorney who represents workers will tell you, arbitration is a forum that is best avoided by workers. For one thing, arbitrators overwhelmingly tend to favor employers – who are often repeat customers – over employees – who the arbitrators will likely never see again. Arbitration can also be expensive, particularly compared to the DLSE complaint process which has no filing fees. Finally, according to Prof. Alex Colvin, a researcher at the Pennsylvania State Department of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations, employees who sue their employers instead of going to arbitration not only win more, they get bigger awards.
But not all hope is lost. The Supreme Court opinion went on to note that workers are still free to challenge the fairness or “unconscionability” of the arbitration agreements they had signed. Moreover, if workers can show that the arbitration would be less “affordable” and “accessible” than filing a complaint with the DLSE, that could “support” their challenge.
Most employees are not equipped to fight the battle against forced arbitration on their own. And most contingency lawyers cannot afford to take on cases of wage theft unless the losses are in the tens of thousands of dollars. So does this mean that low-wage workers have no choice but to seek redress in the unfriendly arbitration forum? Not necessarily. In select cases, the DLSE legal department can choose to step in or “intervene” on behalf of the worker.
This is what actually happened for one of my clients. After I filed a DLSE complaint for my client, I learned that he had signed an arbitration agreement. The employer’s law firm immediately filed a petition to compel arbitration in civil court, asking the court to order my client to dismiss his DLSE complaint and participate in what no doubt would have been a long, expensive, and probably futile arbitration. Given the relatively small size of my client’s claim, challenging the petition or proceeding to arbitration probably would have made little economic sense.
Cue the DLSE legal department. A DLSE lawyer called me and let me know that the DLSE legal department would be willing to step in and fight the employer’s petition on my client’s behalf. In the end, the threat of that intervention was enough to get the employer to cave. The case resolved and my client and I thanked the DLSE lawyers profusely.
I’m encouraged that the DLSE took action to vindicate my clients’ rights and I’m rooting for the agency to keep up the good work. Forcing low wage workers into arbitration is really just an attempt to cut them off at the pass that would lead to recouping their stolen wages. The more employers learn that the DLSE is serious about being a law enforcement agency, the more likely wage and hour laws will be followed and forced arbitration won’t serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card for scofflaw employers engaged in wage theft. As worker advocates fight for a legal standard that can keep the DLSE’s doors open to low wage workers, DLSE intervention in these cases stands as an essential bulwark against exploitation of low-wage workers.
About Eugene Lee
Eugene D. Lee represents employees throughout California who seek to protect their legal rights in the workplace. Mr. Lee has obtained numerous six- and seven-figure settlements and judgments for employees throughout California. Mr. Lee received a B.A. with honors from Harvard University, and a J.D. with honors from the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to starting his own firm, Mr. Lee was a lawyer in the New York offices of Shearman & Sterling and Sullivan & Cromwell.