Hurricane Katrina and Low-Wage Workers

Displaced residents of the Gulf Coast, disaster responders, and workers seeking jobs in the devastated areas face uncertain labor and employment protections thanks to the recent federal rollbacks of such bedrock protections as the right to be paid the prevailing wage on public sector jobs and the right to affirmative action in hiring for those jobs. 

 Employers may feel emboldened by the administration’s undercutting, but workers and their advocates must remind them that other labor and employment laws remain on the books and must be followed. 

 In the short time since the disaster, stories are already emerging of worker mistreatment and corporate attempts to circumvent still-existing worker protections.  Among the stories:

• Unregulated labor contractors recruit and transport low-wage workers to the disaster area and then fail to pay them for work performed, citing lack of identification or other documents;
• No-bid corporations with new government contracts are shipping in disaster relief contract workers to clean up New Orleans streets without providing health and safety training or personal protective equipment to prevent unlawful exposure to toxins and other health hazards;
• Undocumented immigrants are being given the impression that they lack rights to disaster relief and other safety net funds and other labor and employment protections;
• Workers brought in to the disaster areas are told they are independent contractors and are paid by the yard of street they are able to clean, creating a sharecropping structure that yields sub-minimum wages and no overtime pay. 

Workers still have the right to be paid, to be free from safety and health hazards, to get leave to take care of sick family members, and to get workers’ compensation benefits if they are injured on the job. 

NELP has prepared a series of fact sheets and a policy short addressing these issues.

Recruiter and Subcontractor Abuse of Workers

New! Post-Katrina: Companies Are Responsible For Workers They Recruit To Perform Clean-Up And Rebuilding.   States have an interest in ensuring that unscrupulous corporations that have received FEMA funding are not able to lure vulnerable workers from other states and then leave them without money or a place to live.  Some contractors are not withholding taxes from workers’ pay, depriving the workers of benefits and the states of payroll tax revenues.  Not only is this exploitation and abuse of the workers, it leaves the destination states and towns with the additional burden of assisting the workers who have no money and no home and dealing with local tensions that arise from their presence. This fact sheet identifies some strategies for holding companies responsible.  (Oct. 2005)

Misclassification of Workers as "Independent Contractors"

Post-Katrina: 1099'd.  Because of their status as non-employees, misclassified “independent contractors” miss out on: minimum wage and overtime requirements, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, the right to form a union and bargain collectively, and other workplace protections like the right to safe and healthy worksites and to be free from discrimination in employment.  This fact sheet provides strategies for challenging employee misclassification. (revised Oct. 2005)

Post-Katrina: Subcontracted Workers Policy Update.  Newly-funded corporations with government money and unregulated smaller labor brokers sourcing workers for Gulf Coast clean-up work are using a time-worn system historically pervasive in the garment and agricultural sectors: subcontracting out work that could be done by in-house employees. This policy short describes this phenomenon and its negative effect on low-wage workers.  It also provides suggestions for how employers can be held accountable and workplace conditions improved for all. (revised Oct. 2005)

The Right to Be Paid

Post-Katrina: Day Labor: Workers' Right to be Paid.   Wage and hour laws protect the rights of all workers to be paid for their work.  These laws apply to both documented and undocumented workers.  They also protect workers who have been misclassified as independent contractors.  This fact sheet provides an overall of workers' right to be paid under federal law. (Oct. 2005)

Post-Katrina: Protecting Your Right to be Paid.   Keeping good records of the time you worked and who you worked for is very important if you want to enforce your right to be paid for all of your work.  This fact sheet provides tips and a sample recordkeeping form for workers. (revised Oct. 2005)

Post-Katrina: Strategies for Enforcing the Right to be Paid in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.   There are many strategies for enforcing the right to be paid.  Each option is different and some can be used together to increase the chances of recovering unpaid wages. This fact sheet presents some possible strategies for workers who have not been paid the wages they were due. (Oct. 2005)

Health and Safety

Post-Katrina: Workplace Health and Safety While Performing Cleanup and Rebuilding. Workers engaging in post-Katrina cleanup and rebuilding work are likely to face a wide range of hazards from exposure to toxic substances including asbestos, damaged electrical lines, unstable buildings, fire and heat and sun exposure. Regardless of  immigration status, workers have a right to safety on the job and to workers’ compensation benefits if they are injured on the job.  This factsheet provides a brief overview of some of the rights workers have. (Oct. 2005)

Post-Katrina: The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Job Protections When You or a Family Member Has Health Problems.  Workers affected by the hurricane may need to take time off from work due to their own health problems or their need to care for a family member with health problems.  This fact sheet provides an overview of federal protections from job loss and other consequences for taking off for these reasons. (revised Oct. 2005)