Police Combat Employers Who Cheat Dayworkers : Law enforcement: Many undocumented workers find honest work doesn’t mean honest pay. Costa Mesa and Fullerton have launched innovative programs aimed at stemming labor abuse by going after the offending employers and charging them with theft.

Talk to the men who gather along 19th Street and Placentia Avenue waiting for the cars and pickups that promise a day’s work and nearly all can tell you tales of backbreaking labor and the heartbreaking frustration of being cheated out of wages.

“It’s happened to me--more than once,” said Jorge Casteneda, a 31-year-old occasional construction worker who stopped off recently at a nearby charity to pick up a bag of free food for his family of four. “There are some guys out there who will hire you and then won’t pay what they owe. They think they can get away with it ‘cause many of the men don’t have papers.

“And they do, (get away with it) ‘cause people don’t speak up.”

Exploited dayworkers used to have little remedy. The usual route of complaint was through the state Labor Commission. But because the office has no investigative or enforcement authority, workers often departed more frustrated than when they arrived.

Now, however, two Orange County police departments have launched innovative programs aimed at stemming the most extreme examples of labor abuse by going after the offending employers and charging them with theft.

In Costa Mesa, which first started the program in 1988, and Fullerton, which has begun a similar effort, officials say they were prompted by reports of increasing labor abuse, especially among undocumented workers.

“We are becoming far more aware of the dayworker problems that many communities are experiencing, but also more aware that there are two sides to the issue,” said Fullerton Police Chief Phil Goehring, who is also a member of the county Human Relations Commission. “A lot of people are trying to survive, and we have to respect that they are trying to work for a living and are not thieves. When they are not paid for their work, it’s an out-and-out crime.”

Immigrant rights groups say the police action is long overdue, and they’re hoping that similar programs catch on in other communities. .

“The purpose of law enforcement is to provide for the common good,” said Robin Blackwell, coordinator of the Orange County Immigrants Rights Coalition. “What Costa Mesa demonstrated is that this isn’t a difficult thing to do. . . . It’s not time-consuming and it’s an immediate aid to someone.”

The Costa Mesa and Fullerton departments base their programs on a longstanding section of the state penal code that defines uncompensated labor as theft.

Officers will investigate complaints and, if necessary, turn cases over to the district attorney for prosecution.

While the programs may seem a fairly obvious police function, state labor officials say the two Orange County departments apparently are the only ones in the state to formally implement such enforcement efforts.

“I think it absolutely will have a positive effect on labor in Orange County,” said John Carter, senior deputy in the Labor Commission’s Santa Ana office. “It’s definitely a deterrent if the police are involved and pick up an (employer) and work him. It will mean fewer laborers getting ripped off.”

Carter said the police programs may have better success than his own office because of the greater resources at their command. His small staff has no authority to conduct field investigations and mostly acts as an intake agency, he said.

“The police have at their fingertips access to Department of Motor Vehicles stuff, addresses, names, records,” he said. “We get an undocumented worker who comes in and says he worked for Joe at such and such a place at such a time and maybe only has a license number. Our efforts are mostly reactive rather than proactive.”

Yet, the Santa Ana office is also the busiest in the state, reporting a 25% increase in claims in the past three years, Carter said. Most of the cases dealt with cash pay, worker’s compensation insurance and violations on public works projects.

According to a 1989 report by the county Human Relations Commission, some of the most abusive labor practices involve undocumented workers who, because of their status, must ply their trade in the so-called underground economy.

The commission’s report cited an “alarming” rate of workers being abandoned by “disappearing employers.” The problem is especially acute in the construction and landscaping trades.

Barbara Considine, a labor specialist with the Human Relations Commission, cited the case of one man who in March was promised $50 a day by an employer to prune trees at private homes. The man worked 28 days--an average of 11 hours each day--but was never paid.

“The employer kept telling him, ‘I’ll pay you when I get paid,’ ” Considine said. “The worker approached him twice and his response was ‘no money.’ It’s very difficult for the worker to leave the situation because he figures he has already made this investment of time and work.”

The man’s case was referred to the Labor Commission but no action has been taken so far, said Considine.

Many officials believe that greater law enforcement involvement in such cases will deter unscrupulous employers and also speed resolution of abuses.

In Costa Mesa, for example, there has been a 75% decrease in the number of complaints since the program was implemented.

Of the cases handled by the department, police were able to obtain immediate restitution for about 98% of the victims.

Fullerton and Costa Mesa officials say their programs will also help build trust between the police and Latino communities where undocumented residents have been especially reluctant to report crime, even when they are the victims.

“We don’t want people to be afraid they are going to be deported; that obviously would undermine the program,” said detective Art Wiechmann, who drafted the Fullerton program. “We don’t inquire as to their immigration status. We treat them as victims, not suspects.”