Domingo Zamora and his fellow construction workers had been underpaid for long, hard hours of work. They did painting, carpentry, plumbing, cleaning, floor installation, snow removal, and ceramics. Some days they worked 48 hours straight, moving from one project to another — never receiving overtime.

Domingo and his co-workers, who recently migrated to the United States from different Central and South American countries, did not know that they had a right to time-and-a-half pay for overtime work. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee filed a lawsuit on their behalf against Tito Contractors and won! As part of a settlement, Tito paid a total of $645,703 to the 25 plaintiffs. Each worker recovered almost the equivalent of one year’s full pay. The workers are now investing that money in their families here in the U.S. and abroad in their home countries.

In the last five years, along with our clients and firm partners, we have filed 40 individual and class action wage theft lawsuits. Since 2010, WLC has recovered millions of dollars in wages for workers in the construction, restaurant, cleaning, and other industries that too often engage in wage theft.