The director of the Department of Labor and Training agrees to investigate wage cases even if employees do not have Social Security numbers.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 10, 2004

BY CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY
Journal Staff Writer

CENTRAL FALLS -- Adelita S. Orefice, director of the state Department of Labor and Training, sat by herself in a metal folding chair in a room surrounded by people who were upset with her and the policies of her department.

Nearly 100 Latino workers and supporters of workers' rights packed Progreso Latino, 626 Broad St., last night. The meeting was organized by the United Workers Committee of Progreso Latino. The group wanted to know why the Department of Labor would not investigate cases of undocumented workers who claimed they were not being paid.

"We are people who work hard and thanks to us, the economy of the country and the state grows because we do the difficult jobs that Americans do not want to do," said Amaralis Rodriguez, of the United Workers Committee. "We are families with aspirations and we demand that we be respected."

The crowd cheered.

The committee was upset because the Department of Labor and Training refused to investigate wage cases if the employee did not have a valid Social Security number.

Signs taped to the walls of the room read: "No Human is Illegal" and "No one is free when someone is oppressed."

Several workers told their stories. They asked that their last names not be used. A woman named Esperanza, who worked as a cleaning woman at an area hospital, said her supervisor refused to pay her unless she slept with him. She refused. Her voice shook as she described how he sexually assaulted her in a bathroom.

Oscar worked for a Pawtucket temp agency. A middle-aged man with balding hair, Oscar said he worked three months but was only paid for one.

"I'm finding myself with no protection," he said of his efforts to get the money he was owed.

Rufino worked as a landscaper but went weeks without pay. He lost his apartment while waiting for his paycheck.

Orefice shook the workers' hands as they walked by her.

The United Workers Committee said they had few questions for Orefice. Each question was written on a poster in both Spanish and English.

"Miss Orefice, we want to know if you are you willing to change the practices of the Department of Labor so that all workers will be protected and rightfully paid by their employers regardless of immigration status? What is your response?" said the English translator.

Orefice was already striding across the room. She picked up a red permanent marker and checked off "yes" on the poster.

The room erupted in applause.

Question 2: Will you contact the temporary agency and inform the owner that he must pay his immigrant workers?

"Yes, absolutely," Orefice said, and marked "Yes" on the poster.

"The third question," the translator began, but Orefice was already there.

"Oh, yeah," Orefice said, checking off the poster that asked her to hire Spanish-speaking investigators. Of the five or six investigators in the wage-claim unit, none speak Spanish.

About an hour into the meeting, Orefice took the microphone for the first time.

She told the group that her mother was Mexican and her own grandparents had been immigrants with a "questionable" legal status.

Orefice said two weeks ago she began a review of the department's policies after Progreso Latino complained to her. She discovered that the staff had a practice of collecting Social Security numbers in wage claims. If the number was not valid or the employee did not have a number, the claim was rejected.

"There was no written policy and they aren't sure who told them to do it," she said. "But we will no longer do that."

Orefice went one step further. She said she directed the staff to sort through the claims filed over the past 12 months and reopen any that were closed because of problems with the Social Security number.

"If you work in Rhode Island, you get paid for that work, and you can file a claim with us and we will conduct an investigation and recover those wages regardless of your immigration status or whether you have a Social Security number or whether the number agrees with the employer," Orefice promised.

The group celebrated its victory by eating 100 tamales made by Esperaza.