Workers fight for unpaid wages

First in a three-part series

SALT LAKE CITY — In Utah's recession-choked job market, Julio Martinez sought work for four months, searching want ads daily and filing piles of applications. Finally, Salt Lake Valley Protective Agency hired him in February as a $10.50-an-hour security guard.

"I was so happy and excited," Martinez says, even though the job meant would he would miss church on Sundays and sacrifice evenings with his family. The father of one was still overjoyed at the prospect of long-needed wages to help with the mortgage, mounting utility bills and credit card debt. That joy would not last long.

"I deposited my first paycheck and then wrote out checks to pay some bills," he says. The paycheck bounced. That made the checks that he had written also bounce — slamming him with bank penalties.

He says Salt Lake Valley Protective Agency (SLVPA) told him it would make the paycheck good when some of its clients paid it money owed — so just keep working. He did for a month — supposedly earning $3,559 — but his checks were never made good.

"I was never paid a penny. I didn't even get a thank you. I was just conned," he says. He is among 35 SLVPA employees who filed wage claims with the state in the past two years saying the company intentionally wrote rubber checks constantly and paid weeks late, if at all.

Another claimant, Jordan Westing, said when he complained to SLVPA, "They told me to quit whenever I want, but good luck in finding another job in this economy." The company never responded to numerous Deseret News phone calls and e-mails seeking its response.

That is an example of how some companies may be using the recession to mistreat employees who fear they can find no other job. Also, other companies are failing in the recession, leaving employees unpaid. Some may cut costs in tough times by hiring illegal immigrants and stiffing them amid threats of calling immigration.

"There has been a big uptick in the number of wage claims filed. I can only assume it is because of the recession," says Brent Asay, the wage claim manager for the Utah Labor Commission.

Recession results

In the two years since July 2008, nearly 4,400 workers filed claims with the Utah Labor Commission for a combined $10.2 million in earned-but-unpaid wages, according to Deseret News analysis of state data that was obtained through an open records law request.

The number of claims was up by a hefty 28 percent over the previous two-year period. That's sobering news for this Labor Day weekend.