Civil activists join Latino wage suit

Two leading civil rights litigators are joining forces to help push a class-action lawsuit against a major national construction firm that allegedly has shortchanged more than 1,000 mostly Latino workers in California out of millions of dollars in pay, lawyers involved in the case plan to announce today.

In what is believed to be one of the state’s largest class actions involving wage claims by Latino workers, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and civil rights lawyer Bill Lann Lee will join the lawsuit, which was first filed in October by the Westlake Village firm of Sullivan Taketa against Masco Contractor Services Inc. and its California subsidiary Schmid Insulation Contractors Inc.

Latino workers have filed relatively few wage and hour claims in California, said Lee, of law firm Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson in Oakland. He and other labor activists said that workers’ fear over their immigration status, ignorance about their rights or desperation for jobs might be the reasons behind their reluctance.

“Unfortunately, some employers still think they can ignore wage and hour laws when it comes to Latinos because they won’t demand their rights,” said Annabelle Gonzalves, Los Angeles regional counsel for the Mexican American legal group. “We want to make sure workers know that California law protects them no matter what, and send a strong message to employers that we will not allow these violations to occur.”

Masco, which ranks 190 on the Fortune 500 list with net annual sales of $12.7 billion, called the allegations groundless. “We believe that we have complied with all state and federal laws. We will defend ourselves vigorously,” said Kathleen Vokes, spokeswoman for Taylor, Mich.-based Masco.

Its subsidiary Schmid, which does business in California as Paragon Schmid Building Products, installs gutters, fireplaces, insulation and other construction products.

Joel R. Villasenor, an attorney with Sullivan Taketa, said the firm had invited the Mexican American legal defense group and Lee to join the case because it needed their extensive experience with class actions and with legal cases involving Latinos to take on such a large corporation.

Daniel Gutierrez, the U.S.-born lead plaintiff, said he and other workers received as little as five hours’ pay for 10 to 12 hours worked because the firm counted only the time spent on the job site, not on traveling, unloading equipment or doing paperwork.

Gutierrez, a 29-year-old Los Angeles native, said he joined Paragon Schmid in January 2006 and was told that he would be paid an hourly wage of $8. But during the first week, he said, his supervisor made him reduce the number of hours on his timecard.

In some of the worst cases, he said, he would spend five hours of unpaid time traveling to Palmdale and other sites from Paragon Schmid’s equipment yard in Valencia, where he was expected to report as early as 5:30 a.m.

Gutierrez said the firm also took deductions, or “negative bonuses,” from his paycheck for his not making quota or for his having to repair installation mistakes.

Gutierrez said he complained to supervisors and was promised that things would change after he gained three months’ experience installing fireplaces and rain gutters.

They never did. Gutierrez said he was eventually told by supervisors that “if you don’t like it, the doors are wide open and you can leave.”

Gutierrez, who has a new job delivering bottled water, said he stepped forward to help other workers still at the firm. He said some of them were reluctant to complain because they distrusted the U.S. legal system, or they lacked citizenship and English fluency. “We’re just asking for what we deserve and to pay us for what we did,” Gutierrez said.

Lee said the legal team had not yet decided how much restitution it would seek but estimated that it would be in the millions of dollars. The team also will seek changes to Masco’s wage and hour practices.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com