The Washington Lawyers’ Committee and the law firm of Latham and Watkins have filed a complaint against Tito Contractors, Inc., a D.C. area construction company, on behalf of more than one hundred of its current and former employees.

The Complaint alleges that for several years Tito Contractors has failed to pay its employees overtime and other payments required by law. Employees report that they worked over 60 hour weeks regularly, but when they inquire about receiving compensation for their overtime work, their requests are often met with threats of termination. Fearing such retaliation, the workers withstood such mistreatment for years.

The denial of fair payment is not uncommon among low-wage workers, but immigrant employees receive the most egregious abuse.   Most, if not all of Tito Contractors’ employees are first or second generation immigrants from Latin America. A number of them say that they were never made aware of their employment rights under the law, and they worked for years without requesting fair pay. Those who are speaking out now against Tito Contractors unlawful employment practices are doing so because they have realized that they have suffered enough mistreatment. They hope that by working with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee to pursue this action, they can help stop the systemic exploitation of immigrant workers in the Washington Metropolitan Region.

A copy of the complaint can be found here.