At the same time that City of Brownsville commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Klifa is advocating harsh penalties for slumlords taking advantage of their poor tenants, she and her husband, owners of the Car Wash Plus located on Paredes Road, have been named in a complaint filed by the South Texas Civil Rights Project for paying four of their workers slave wages.
And even though during her campaign she identified the business as her own, the feisty commissioner now says that it does not belong to her but to her husband.
Kelsey Snapp, attorney for Texas Legal Aid, represents four former employees at Car Wash Plus located on Paredes Road.
“The workers were working 9 to 10-hour days but they were only getting paid when they were actually cleaning cars,” Snapp said. “However, they were required to be there the entire day."
He said that the four businesses have to anyone working in the U.S. must get paid the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, as required by federal law.
.jpg)
Tetreau-Kalifa has been earning Brownie points when she appeared with City Attorney Mark Sossi at her side decrying the squalid conditions where low-income people lived. She has vowed to combat the slumlords who gouge poor tenants by having them pay high rents for these type of dwellings.
Now she – even though she no longer claims ownership of the business – has to answer to these complaints before the Texas Workforce Commission and perhaps the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.One of the workers said that the wages he earned averaged to just over $1.50 per hour and included going to do work at the home of the city commissioner and her husband.
Three other Brownsville businesses – Asian Buffet, Capistrano Tortilleria and BBQ – are also named in the complaint.
Most of the cases the group deals with, come from labor violations in the construction and restaurant business.
Asian Buffet allegedly paying former employee Alberto Ortiz just $3 to $5 an hour where he worked 12-hour days for eight months.
Jorge Rubio is suing Capistran Tortilleria and BBQ where he said he did most of the work - from food delivery to cleaning up at closing time. When he asked for a helper, his employer stopped paying him.
The commissioner denied the allegations.
4 comments:
Throw the book at them! You are just another dingleberry in Brownsville's chones manchados, Jessica Tetreau! I hope to the high powers you forego running again and let an adult have a shot, idiota!
Jessica "I've fallen from the ugly tree" Tretreau is an all too common politician! She will do and say anything to look good; and will then turn around and screw you over.....She doesn't give two shits and a kite about her employees! She is in everything for herself.....All of a sudden Charlie "I'm fucked up" Atkinson doesn't sound too bad.
es negrera is es pendeja.
Consider this: Not only are these businesses breaking both Federal and State law, they are ROBBING the LEGITIMATE business owners that are trying to run their businesses properly. They also hurt the local economy by NOT PAYING proper wages and taxes. Bottom feeders, ONE and ALL! Yeah,sure Missy, slumlords indeed!!
The Feds should make an example of them, and seize their properties!
Post a Comment