All Work, No Pay
Contractor charged with failing to give wages to 4 day laborers
By Bart Jones, Staff Writer
Originally published in Newsday, June 13, 2002
Launching an unprecedented crackdown against employers who exploit day laborers in New York, the state attorney general's office yesterday arrested a construction contractor who allegedly failed to pay thousands of dollars in promised wages to four Central American immigrants.
Richard Holowchak was arrested at his home on Cedar Avenue in Locust Valley in a 6:30 a.m. raid. He was charged with failing to pay the laborers $8,360 in wages for a month's worth of work.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said his office has waged crackdowns against the exploitation of immigrants in sweatshops and other locations, but this marked the first time in New York State that authorities have gone after contractors who take advantage of sometimes defenseless day laborers.
"My office is firmly committed to preventing illegal treatment of workers who, by law, are entitled to promised wages for the long, exhaustive hours they work," Spitzer said. "Even as the economy is steadfast on the Island, some workers are being taken advantage of."
Holowchak seemed stunned by the raid on his home, and declined to comment to reporters gathered on the street as he was led away in handcuffs. He was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead, and was being held in Nassau County jail on $2,500 bond.
Holowchak failed to attend a court appearance on June 3, prompting authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest, Spitzer said.
Pro-immigrant groups praised the action, saying it could help reduce exploitation of the hundreds of day laborers who gather on street corners across Long Island each morning waiting for daily jobs in landscaping, construction and other work.
Some contractors believe they can get away with not paying the day laborers because many are undocumented immigrants who are afraid to complain to authorities, said the Rev. Allan Ramirez of the Brookville Reformed Church, who filed a complaint about the case with Spitzer's office.
"I think he [Spitzer] is truly giving the poorest of the poor, the weak, those who have no privileges, a voice," Ramirez said. "They now know they are being heard."
Ramirez brought three of the workers to Holowchak's house to watch him get arrested. They said they could hardly believe justice was being carried out.
The four immigrants started working for Holowchak at various times last year, building and repairing houses, but in late December and January, Holowchak abruptly stopped paying them, said Luis Alfredo Mejias, 26, a native of El Salvador who lives in Locust Valley.
"He told me, 'I will pay you, I will pay you,' but he never did," Mejias said in Spanish. By February, the men quit, and continued to press Holowchak for their money. Eventually they contacted Ramirez for help.
In April 2001, Spitzer announced he was forming a task force along with the U.S. Department of Labor and other agencies to combat exploitation of day laborers. Yesterday was the first time his office arrested a contractor. He said more arrests are expected.
Long Island became a national focal point in the debate over day laborers and undocumented immigration when two Mexican immigrants living in Farmingville were attacked in 2000 by two men posing as contractors.
Critics say many day laborers are in the country without documentation and work "off the books." They contend authorities should enforce immigration laws rather than look out for the labor rights of the day laborers.
Nadia Marin-Molina of the Workplace Project in Hempstead said her organization has tried to help day laborers obtain promised wages by, among other things, holding protests outside contractors' homes, though with mild success. One contractor came out of his home waving a pistol, another a baseball bat, she said.
Mejias said that after Holowchak refused to pay the men their wages, they had a hard time paying their rent, buying food and helping their wives and children back home. Tears welling in his eyes, Julio Cesar Valles, 37, also of El Salvador, said, "Many times, my wife told me that I didn't want to help her anymore and I didn't love her."
