Laborers Seek Fair Share in Court : Employment: More and more day workers are taking wage disputes to the small claims system. Many find a judgment doesn’t guarantee them their money.

Faustino Rosales, an immigrant day laborer who was cheated by an employer in September, took his fight for his lost wages from the streets to the courts and won.

But all he has to show for it after six months is a piece of paper from a judge telling him he has the right to collect $283 from a former boss who still refuses to pay. And hard-won knowledge about the realities of the American legal system.

Rosales and other day laborers subsist in an economic underground where a job contract consists of climbing into a pickup truck and rip-offs by employers come with the territory. The regional economic decline, coupled with the fact that immigrants have learned more about their legal rights, is causing more and more day laborers to file wage claims when they don’t get paid, advocates say.

“I have never seen as many people with wage claims as I have in the past two or three months,” said Gilda Rodriguez, a paralegal with San Fernando Neighborhood Legal Services of Pacoima. “There has been a tremendous increase. Times are desperate.”

The number of wage claims at the agency in that period has been double the previous average of about 20 cases a month, most involving day laborers, Rodriguez said.

Challenging an abusive employer is a victory in itself for these men, who are generally poor, undocumented, uneducated and fearful of government. It represents a step out of the shadows of a society that relies on their labor, yet makes it illegal to hire them if they are undocumented. Many employers are small-time, unlicensed contractors who are also operating on the margins of the law.

So the fact that day laborers are turning to the courts is a testament both to their desperation and to their trust that the American system will help them see justice done, regardless of who they are.

“It’s not just about money,” said Sarah Cohen of the Labor Defense Network, a coalition of nine legal aid agencies including San Fernando Neighborhood Legal Services. “It’s about vindication. It’s showing that you are not helpless.”

Even as day laborers become bolder and more sophisticated, they are becoming disillusioned, according to workers and their advocates. Many employers simply refuse to pay after losing claims, and defy the long, difficult, sometimes expensive process of forcing compliance. The odds are tough for anyone when it comes to enforcing small claims judgments, Cohen said.

“Collection is a whole different ball of wax,” she said. “Many defendants are judgment-proof. They are good at evading efforts to identify their assets. . . . There are a lot of hurdles.”

Rodriguez said: “The frustration is growing. Most of my clients expect to see the money within days. . . . Following up the cases is an area we don’t have a lot of resources to put into.”

Rosales says his frustrations are summed up by two pieces of paper. The first is a $283 judgment issued by a commissioner in Van Nuys small claims court, who ruled in January against the employer who hired Rosales to help build a garden water sculpture. The employer has not paid.

The second piece of paper is a $500 citation issued by a West Covina police officer who confronted Rosales in December as he sold flowers on a traffic island. Rosales says he cannot afford to pay the fine; he was notified recently by mail that it has gone up to $750.

“On the one hand, the justice system is getting tough with me because I was trying to make a living in an honest and honorable way,” Rosales said in Spanish. “On the other hand, I’m not getting the money I’m legally owed and won in court.”

Rosales’ case began in a gravel lot on Sherman Way near the Hollywood Freeway in North Hollywood. The lot is the hiring site of the city-sponsored day labor program established last year to provide an alternative to unofficial street-corner sites.

Up to 100 men show up each day, mainly immigrants from Mexico and Central America. They sit at picnic tables in good weather and wait silently in a crowded shed when it rains. It takes weeks to get hired. That heightens the urgency of disputes that generally involve no more than $300 or $400.

“Maybe for some people it’s not a lot of money, but for someone who works some days yes and some days no, it’s a lot,” said Agustin Martinez, 24, who won $400 in San Fernando court recently. Martinez has been in Los Angeles eight months. He pays $150 monthly rent for a room in a relative’s house and sends the bulk of his earnings back to his parents in Mexico.

“Four hundred dollars can be a month’s salary,” he said.

The economic slump has also hurt employers, creating added potential for abuse. Martinez said the worst offenders are subcontractors and others who act as middlemen or supervisors. He said the subcontractor who hired him to do construction work at a Tarzana restaurant didn’t pay because the subcontractor claimed he himself had not been paid.

“The managers are the ones who try to take advantage of us,” Martinez said. “They work for other companies. They keep the money for themselves. It was surprising to me when I found out how much cheating goes on.”

Rosales said he was hired in September with three other men to help build a water sculpture surrounded by flowers at a house in the Studio City hills. They were promised the standard hourly rate of $5. At the end of the four-day job, Rosales said Jerry Lipp, the contractor who built the sculpture, failed to pay them. Rosales said he was owed $143.

Lipp said in an interview that he is sympathetic to Rosales and other immigrants, describing them as hard workers who are often exploited. But Lipp claimed he paid a foreman who was supposed to pay Rosales and the other workers.

“Frankly, it’s not fair,” said Lipp. “I paid him as far as I’m concerned. They came after me because they knew how to find me.”

The recurring threat of rip-offs has spurred laborers to become more sophisticated. They try to obtain information about employers, such as addresses, business cards, names, license plates. Rosales took his information to Rodriguez of San Fernando Neighborhood Legal Services.

Rodriguez said she first contacted Lipp because she always tries to work out a settlement; only one-fifth of the cases go to court. After failing to come to an agreement, she helped Rosales file a claim. The others had already moved on.

“Most clients are reluctant,” she said. “And they aren’t stationary.”

Rosales, 27, is short and street-wise. He wears his hair long in back, and his old leather motorcycle jacket bears the stenciled insignia “American Dream.” He came to this country from Mexico last summer. Spending long hours waiting for jobs gave him both the time and motivation to go to court.

“Some guys get discouraged, they think it’s better to let it go, they get another job and forget about it,” he said.

Wage claims can be filed with the state labor commissioner’s office or in small claims court, where the limit on monetary disputes rose from $2,500 to $5,000 this year. Advocates advise day laborers to go to small claims court if the legal issues are straightforward. Among other advantages, the court hears cases in four to six weeks, while the state takes up to four months, Cohen said.

Clients prepare their cases with Rodriguez in advance, amassing whatever evidence and witnesses they can. In court they represent themselves; if Rodriguez is able to go, she serves only as an interpreter.

Hearings can be intimidating. Before Rosales’ hearing in January in Van Nuys, Rodriguez had to convince him he would not be arrested on the spot because of his West Covina ticket for selling flowers. The language barrier is also daunting, Martinez said.

“It’s difficult because you would like to explain your ideas directly, man-to-man,” said Martinez. When the San Fernando commissioner awarded him $400 last week, Martinez was nervous and forgot to ask that penalties be imposed. State law provides for an award of up to 30 days’ pay if the employer withheld wages intentionally.

Martinez brought a signed statement to court from a previous employer attesting to the quality of his work, to counter the standard defense that employees did a poor job. The two sides exchange evidence during a limited “discovery” process that takes place in the hall.

Before Rosales’ hearing in January, Lipp said all he owed Rosales was $100 and offered to pay him on the spot, according to both men.

But Rosales by this time had a good idea of what his rights were. He held out for $300, arguing that he deserved to get damages. Lipp did not stay for the hearing, after which the judge awarded Rosales $283.

The 30-day appeal period has since elapsed without payment from Lipp, Rosales said. Lipp said last week that he was unaware of the judgment and had not been served with any court papers. He said his offer of $100 still stands, but he does not feel he should pay more.

In order to collect, a plaintiff must identify an opponent’s assets. If a laborer knows where a contractor has a bank account, for example, he can initiate a court-ordered levy on the account. It is also possible to impound a car--for a $400 fee to the county marshal’s office--or “tap” a cash register at a place of business.

These measures are made difficult by the transient nature of laborers and many employers, who do their best to disappear, knowing time works on their behalf. Rodriguez described how one client tracked down an employer’s bank account and requested a levy, only to discover there was no money in the account. At that point the man gave up.

“This is one of the most frustrating areas in any kind of litigation,” Rodriguez said. Her next step in Rosales’ case will be to ask the court to set up a judgment debtor’s hearing, where Lipp will be asked to provide information on his assets.

The initial euphoria that Rosales and others felt after winning their cases has given way to disappointment. But he said he will keep fighting for the money he is owed.

Meanwhile, Lipp said the experience has convinced him to never again hire day laborers, a decision he said he regrets because of his sympathy for them.

“It’s a joy to work with people like that,” he said. “California would shut down without them. . . . The way these guys live, the little we pay them, it makes me sick.”