Texas Workers File Thousands of Wage Theft Claims, But Getting Money Back Is Difficult

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) “Wage theft costs Americans more than any other type of theft. Workers are being robbed of $50 billion a year in wages, according to the Center for Economic Policy.

In Texas, thousands of employees each year file a lawsuit with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) in the hope of getting their money back. Yet, as a CBS News investigation found, recovering stolen wages is often difficult and rare.

Oscar Torres, a construction worker from Dallas, filed a wage theft lawsuit with TWC after his employer, a small home improvement company, failed to pay him for 10 days of work in 2018 totaling $1,400.

“What’s happening is that the subcontractor just disappeared,” Torres said. “I owe the rent. I had to cut my food and gas expenses in order to be able to move to another job.” [translation from Spanish].

For low-paid construction workers in Texas, Torres’ experience is commonplace. According to a survey conducted by the University of Texas and the Workers’ Defense Project, one in five construction workers reported being denied pay for their work.

When the TWC investigated the Torres case, Torres received a decision on the money owed to him, however, he has not yet received his wages, as the state has still not been able to recover the money from his former employer.

Over the past four years, TWC has awarded Torres unpaid wages four times by four different employers. In each case, Torres was not paid.

Torres said, “I believe in fairness and justice here in Texas and that’s why I keep bringing cases because I believe that at some point I’ll be able to get my stolen wages back.” [translation from Spanish].

A CBS News investigation found that thousands of Texas workers each year end up empty-handed, like Torres, after filing a wage theft lawsuit with the state.

Ed Serna, chief executive of TWC, said given the tools his agency has to work with, he believes the state’s wage theft lawsuit process is generally working. TWC employs 37 people to investigate allegations of wage theft.

“Everything we do, we think about the person,” he said. “We’re focused on trying to help Texans – Texans who are individuals or Texans who are businesses.

About 150,000 wage theft lawsuits have been filed in Texas since 2010, according to data analyzed by CBS News. State investigators have dismissed more than half of them – citing lack of jurisdiction, lack of evidence, false claims, or withdrawal of claims by employees. This leaves 62,000 lawsuits in which state investigators determined that workers were indeed owed wages, but not all of those workers were paid. According to the state, 37,000 lawsuits since 2010 have resulted in TWC directly reimbursing workers.

Sean Goldhammer, an attorney for the Workers’ Defense Project, said that for Texas workers, the state’s claims process can often feel long and frustrating.

“Perhaps in a year you have nothing to show,” he explained.

Goldhammer, whose organization helps construction workers navigate the state’s claims process, said one of the biggest problems he sees with the Texas system is the lack of repercussions for employers who don’t pay.

“We heard from workers who reported that their employer made fun of them when they told them they had rights,” he said. “They (employers) seem to be very happy with the system, knowing there are ways to get around paying their workers.”

Texas employers who owe wages over $2,000 are listed on the TWC website. There are currently over 10,000 names on this list. The TWC also imposes administrative arrests on these companies along with warrants preventing the company from doing business with the government or receiving money owed by a government agency.

Bringing criminal charges against employers might be an option, but Serna said that was rare. When his agency referred cases, he said that in most cases, local district attorneys were often reluctant to prosecute due to relatively small dollar amounts.

The TWC said it takes an average of two months for investigators to reach a decision on a case. However, according to data analyzed by CBS News, it could be several more months between appeals and foreclosure before workers are reimbursed for lost wages.

For information on how to file a wage theft claim under Texas Payday Law, click here.