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Call US

You have the right to be heard. 

You have the right to report what is happening in your workplace. 

REPORT UNFAIR TREATMENT AT WORK 
713-862-8222

WHY FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS?

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Obtaining justice at work is not easy or quick, but it is worth fighting for, and the road is as important as the end result!

  • Recover your salary to invest in yourself and in what you and your family need.

  • Get justice for yourself: you are your own best advocate on the path to accessing justice.

  • Prevent this from happening to others!

  • Change workplace culture: workplace abuse is unacceptable! 

  • Learning by doing: prevention tools and responses to situations

  • Empower yourself! Learn about your rights and connect with other workers.

LEGAL COMMUNITY 
CONSULTATION 
CENTER

Legal Community Consultation Center,  worker empowerment counseling staff with the assistance of pro bono attorneys will offer and help low-income and under-served immigrant workers to gain legal status, work authorization and to reunite their families so they can become empowered, reach stability, and move out of poverty..

We are assisting eligible immigrants in becoming U.S. citizens by guiding them through the application process and assisting in securing legal representation for those clients with complex cases.

Also, the Community Consultation Center  offers education, advocacy and consultation on cases of wage theft, labor trafficking and immigration issues like DACA, TPS and DAP. This grant will allow us to put our worker rights program into the realm of immigration services, and other wage theft cases. 

Also this program  allows us to reach out and educate teens and adolescents workers preventing wage theft during summer activities.

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WAGE RECOVERY PROCESS

The Answer You Need

How do we recover wages?

We resolve wage theft cases through education and accompaniment and organize the process in three phases:

  • Know: Understand what is a violation of the law (and what is not) and build the case

  • Defend: Let's try to negotiate while we collect evidence

  • Exercise: Take administrative or legal action

We are not attorneys. Rather, we work with government agencies, a network of legal service providers, and other partners to ensure our clients receive a holistic service approach. 

What are our goals in wage recovery? 

  • Recover your money!

  • Empower you: support you learning and connecting with other workers!

  • Create a network of people who know how to help each other in wage loss cases.

  • Understand the barriers to resolving cases in order to advocate for changing laws in the future.

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HOW WE WORK IN YOUR CASE

Phase I: Know Your Rights

  • Workshop on labor rights in Texas (90 minutes)

  • Diagnostic meeting to know if your case has support (30 minutes)

  • Assistance in person or via phone to calculate how much you are owed

  • Public records research about your employer or former employer

Phase II: Defend Your Rights

  • Negotiation workshop and case documentation (90 minutes)

  • Guidance on how to collect and organize evidence

  • Mediation services, including three attempts to call your employer or former employer and one or more mediation conferences (if the employer accepts)

  • Drafting and sending a certified letter with a formal complaint

Phase III: Exercise Your Rights

  • Resolution roads workshop (90 minutes)

  • Preparation and practice of your testimony

  • Completion of paperwork with pertinent agency

  • Other accompaniment depending on the case

FOR EMPLOYERS

If you are an employer who has received a phone call or certified mail from Fe y Justicia Worker Center regarding a wage theft claim, you can find information about how to resolve your claim here.

 

Wage theft claims can have significant consequences for employers, including sweeping Department of Labor investigations, thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees and damages, and criminal charges that may lead to arrest.

 

It is Fe y Justicia Worker Center’s practice to resolve wage theft claims through friendly negotiation with employers. We want to make sure you are in compliance with the law and treating your employees fairly, and we are willing to negotiate payment plans in good faith, provide education about wage and hour compliance, and connect you with resources for mediation.

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However, we are prepared to take further action against employers who refuse to cooperate with our good-faith efforts. These include but are not limited to referrals to government agencies for full investigations, referrals to private or public interest attorneys for litigation, direct action and public awareness campaigns, and other pathways to resolution. 

 

If you have an open wage theft claim against you and are ready to submit payment to your employee, you may do so by mailing a check and pay stub to:

 

[Employee’s Name]

Fe y Justicia Worker Center

1209 James Street

Houston Texas 77009

 

If you have questions about claims and how to resolve them, please call our office line at 713-862-8222, or email our advisor teams at advisors@houstonworkers.org.

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