The U.S. Department of Labor announced it recovered $1.1 million from two companies operating in San Diego for 50 Mexican nationals who were paid as little as $2.43 an hour.
Investigators found Freig Carrillo Forwarding Inc. and ACV Logistics Inc. had used affiliates to pay the affected workers in Mexican Pesos by direct deposit each week, authorities announced.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered a consent judgment and order on March 9, 2023 that requires Freig Carrillo Forwarding Inc. and owner, Javier Martin Freig Carrillo to pay $1 million in back wages and damages to 35 workers, $400,000 of which must be paid within 15 days with monthly payments of $16,928 for three years.
According to the Department of Labor, the employer must also pay $26,215 in civil money penalties for its egregious violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court’s actions follow a division investigation from December 2019 through December 2021 of Freig Carrillo Forwarding pay practices, finding the employer denied minimum wage and overtime wages to Mexican nationals working at its San Diego warehouses.
Investigators found that on average, the company paid workers as little as $3.24 and that they typically paid workers in Mexican Pesos for workweeks that averaged nearly 45 hours at a flat rate of $180-$200 per week.
“An employee’s citizenship has no bearing on whether the Fair Labor Standards Act’s protections apply to them. We will continue to combat wage theft aggressively on behalf of all workers covered by the statute,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda.
Similar violations were discovered in ACV Logistics Inc’s payroll records from April 7, 2020, to April 6, 2022, finding the company paid some workers as little as $2.43 an hour.
The employer and its owner Armando Carrillo agreed to a settlement with the department and paid $70,104 in back wages and liquidated damages to 15 Mexican nationals, according to the Department of Labor. The department assessed the employer $12,105 in civil money penalties for their egregious Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations.
The Department of Labor said both companies must also immediately change their payroll practices and recordkeeping to comply with the FLSA and provide their workers with information in their spoken language on their FLSA rights.
“The enforcement actions announced today are part of our ongoing effort to root out abusive labor practices by employers operating in the customs warehouse industry,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The idea that some employers are paying people working in the U.S. – regardless of where they call home – an hourly rate equal to the price of a bottle of water is intolerable. All employers should pay their workers working in the U.S. as federal, state, and local laws require.”
Consul General of Mexico Carlos González Gutierrez in San Diego encourages Mexican workers to contact the consulate at 619-231-3847 or proteccion@consulmexsd.org for support, consular protection, or free legal advice.
