Complaint Review: US Dept. of Labor - Arlington Texas
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- Author Not Confirmed
- US Dept. of Labor 1701 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 270, Box 22 Arlington, Texas USA
- Phone: (817) 861-2150
- Web: http://www.dol.gov/whd/america2.htm
- Category: Federal Government
US Dept. of Labor Supervisor Andy Lozano and Agent "Katrina" Refused To Assist In Wage Theft Cases. Do Not Allow Anonymous Tips. Texas Employer Carting Working People 7 days straight, 14 hour days, for only $200.00 and getting away with it. Exploiting the Homeless. No Where to Turn For Help! Arlington Texas
*Author of original report: Actually you are wrong. I've already called the Texas Wage Office and they have a DIFFERENT TAKE than YOU.
*General Comment: a possible explanation.
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I have a friend that was living in a homeless shelter in Fort Worth, TX.
Carnival Americana came by one day in a truck and told the guys they had work for them up in Denver, Colorado. They picked the guys up and put them on the back of the pickup truck and drove them to Amarillo TX where they switched over into the back of a Semi and drove on to Denver, Colorado.
The guys had been promised food and hotel stay and the food was sporadic and they were forced to sleep on the floor of a camper and there was no hotel stay. The guys then worked 14 hour days for the next 7 straight days and they were only paid $200.00 forcing several of the guys to walk off and quit. This is far under the Federal Minimum wage.
The guys are all stuck in Denver, Colorado now with no way to get home. I told my friend not to take that job but he was desperate. It didn't make sense to me that the company would need to hire guys in Fort Worth and transport them across state lines when there were guys already in Denver that needed jobs. Now the guys are stranded in Denver and are living in a homeless shelter up there.
For some reason these guys are reluctant to get involved with any complaints with government agencies. So I said I would call up and do an anonymous complaint. First I called the Texas Attorney General's office and spoke to an investigator who told me to call the US Dept. Of Labor. I called the 1-800 number given and spoke to a guy there who told me to call the Dallas District Office. They both assured me I could make a tip and remain anonymous.
However, when I called and held online which seemed like forever I spoke to a very rude representative named "Katrina" who told me I would not be allowed to remain anonymous and if I didn't work for the company I could not call in a complaint or even a tip. She refused to take my concerns. I then asked for a supervisor and after going back and forth with her for several more minutes with her talking over me and interrupting me I spoke to Andy Lozano who was equally rude and very nasty. Told me the guys were probably "Lying" and that there was nothing he could do.
Unbelievable.
No one is looking out for the bottom guy in Texas which is why Texas now leads the U.S. for the number of wage theft cases and complaints filed. Just google Texas and Wage theft and it will pop up thousands of research articles.
So this company, Carnival Americana, will be left alone to exploit another day. Thanks to the losers at the Dept of labor. They do NOTHING to help.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 07/09/2013 10:18 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/us-dept-of-labor/arlington-texas-76006/us-dept-of-labor-supervisor-andy-lozano-and-agent-katrina-refused-to-assist-in-wage-th-1065556. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#2 Author of original report
Actually you are wrong. I've already called the Texas Wage Office and they have a DIFFERENT TAKE than YOU.
AUTHOR: Walter - ()
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, July 09, 2013
I've already called the Texas Wage Office and they have an entirely different take than you. They say that a company cannot do that. They cannot do "Work for pay" and pay an amount that is under the federal minimum wage if one would take the hours worked and divide them. It has to at LEAST equal the federal minimum wage and they are presently working on getting the money back for my friends.
In other words. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
I heard it from the horses mouth. The actual wage INVESTIGATOR. She also said that even if my friend was not told what the wages were it didn't matter because the wages would STILL have to EQUAL Federal Minimum Wage.
#1 General Comment
a possible explanation.
AUTHOR: Tyg - ()
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Now I understand how this situation that your freind had can be upsetting. But let me try and help you understand. Carnival work is a traveling business. As such they operate within many states. This means that they can really only go by the labor laws from within the state they actually have a home office in. Now in MANY states they have a "piecemeal" law. This law states that someone can take a job for a short amount of time. Now, this becomes important when you realize that it is "work for pay". Not "work for a paycheck". This means that if your freind accepted the money for the work that they did, then that is their pay. Period. As for a hotel, im sure they meant to get them one but probably couldnt. Carnivals draw a lot of ppl. Carnivals are also setup right along side other events. Such as rodeos and races. Which means most rooms would have been booked. As for food, Im 100% sure that they would have been offered the "carny" food immediatly available to them. I know this because I have also worked at a few carnivals myself.
What you are complaining about is a common practice with traveling carnivals. It would cost ANY of these agencies a goodly amount of cash to investigate. And seeing as a carnival is normally moved on in a short amount of time, its almost impossible to catch up to them as they DO NOT have to post WHERE they are going. So what you may be seeing as indefference to the situation, is probably simply the inability for them to actually do anything as no "real" labor laws were violated. Its not really ethical for them to pay as they do, but its not illegal.
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