So much for trying to do something nice for the underprivileged.. It certainly does appear that the placement agency is an anti-capitalist left wing front group.
Sadly, the lesson here is, instead of sharing the American dream with the less fortunate, we should simply keep it for ourselves.
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| Sabrina Tan, a foreign students from Malaysia that worked at McDonald's on Trindle Road, attempts to get into the Hampden Twp. home she and seven others have been living in for the past four months. The house is owned by the same man who has employed the workers, Andy Cheung. Cheung owns six of the fast-food restaurants in the midstate, including the Camp Hill and Lemoyne locations, and others in the Harrisburg area. Eight workers, four men and four women, have been living in the basement of the house and were locked out after taking part in a protest at the Trindle Road location earlier Wednesday. Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com |
The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed it is investigating complaints by seven foreign students who claim they were exploited by a Harrisburg-area McDonald's franchise owner.
The labor department is the same agency that imposed $356,000 in fines and back wages related to about 1,000 foreign students who repackaged Hershey candies at an Exel Inc. distribution facility in Palmyra during the summer of 2011.
Now, the department is investigating the March 6 complaint filed by seven foreign students who say they were employed at three Harrisburg-area McDonald's franchises owned by Andy Cheung.
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| (Gallery by Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com) |
Cheung, whose business is based in the Middletown area, and GeoVisions have not responded to repeated requests for comment.
According to the complaint filed with the labor department, the exchange students are from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Malaysia and Brazil. They are participating in the U.S. State Department's J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program.
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| A group of 18 foreign student guest workers and about 40 supporters staged a work-stoppage protest at McDonald’s fast-food restaurant on Trindle Road in Hampden Twp. on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. The event was intended to expose “severe exploitation at McDonald’s restaurants in Harrisburg, Lemoyne and Camp Hill,†according to a news release from the National Guestworker Alliance. Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com |
According to their complaint, they earned $7.25 an hour and, while they were promised 40 hours per week, they were sometimes given as few as four. They further claim housing expenses were deducted from the paychecks, and they lived in basements of Harrisburg-area dwellings owned by Cheung.
The complaint alleges that Cheung and GeoVisions "used the J-1 program to source cheap, exploitable workers from Latin America and Asia and then treated them as sub-minimum wage surplus workforce at the fast food chain franchises."
The complaint alleges the students were each charged $300 per month in rent. After rent was deducted from their paychecks, their net pay was "far below minimum wage," according to the complaint.
The students, who are being represented by an advocacy organization called the National Guestworker Alliance, staged a protest at the Trindle Road McDonald's on Wednesday. The protest included some exchange workers who aren't staying in the Harrisburg area and who aren't part of the March 6 complaint.
In separate interviews, locally-employed students told of being among eight people living in the basement of a local Cheung-owned home. They told of a curtain hung across the room to separate males and females, and one told of sleeping next to a furnace in a utility room.
Their official complaint alleges the students were desperate for working hours because of their $3,000 exchange program debts, and that Cheung and GeoVisions "used this to their advantage."
"Students were on constant call to come in for work shifts on as little as 30 minutes' notice, and when they raised complaints of any kind, the employer retaliated by cutting their hours even further," the complaint alleges.
Yet the complaint also alleges some were forced to work up to 25 hours straight.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor said the department doesn't comment on specifics of ongoing investigations. She said she had no timetable for completing the investigation.
Their complaint asks the government to speed up the investigation because of the students' temporary status, and to take into account the possibility of retaliation.
When a group of the students returned to a Hampden Twp. home following Wednesday's protest, they found themselves locked out of their basement living quarters. They were eventually allowed in.
The U.S. State Department also is investigating.
Here is a copy of the complaint they filed. Highlighted is the "entitlements" they seem to think they deserve free of charge or entitled to do without consequence. (Italicized red in parenthesis will be my response) And here we thought it was only our kids being taught socialist philosophies!
National Guestworker Alliance
217 North Prieur Street ! New Orleans, LA 70112 ! Tel: 504-309-5161 ! Fax: 504-309-5205
Via Facsimile
March 6, 2013
U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division
Stegmaier Building - Suite 373M
7 N. Wilkes-Barre Boulevard
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18702
RE: Notice of Violation of Fair Labor Standards Act by McDonald’s Franchisee Andy Cheung and Cheung Enterprises LLC and Geovisions
To U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division:
Please accept this Notice of Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. including failure to pay minimum wage, overtime, and retaliation (“complaint”) (Mininum wage is not the remaining amount after taxes and expenses are paid. Overtime is paid out over a 40 hour pay period. Complaining in front of customers a public work place can and should impact a worker's availability to work) at the McDonald’s Franchises operated by Andy Cheung. This complaint is filed on behalf of the following guestworkers (“McDonalds Guestworkers”) and all similarly situated workers employed there in the past three years who are employed pursuant to J-1 summer work travel visas. The McDonalds guestworkers were employed at three of the at least six McDonald’s franchises operated by Andy Cheung.
Name of Worker Country of origin
Jorge Rios Argentina
Rodrigo Yañez Chile
Luis Fernando Suarez Peru
Alicia Marin Paraguay
Fernando Acosta Paraguay
Ka Inn Lee Malaysia
Alex Amoria Brazil
RELEVANT BACKGROUND FACTS ON MCDONALDS STUDENT
GUESTWORKERS
Student guestworkers from Argentina, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, and other countries were recruited by Geovisions and jointly employed by Andy Cheung, Cheung Enterprises LLC, and Geovisions at three McDonalds franchises in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. Each student paid at least $3,000 to participate (Kids budgeting 3000 dollars spending money? nuff said) in the U.S. State Department’s J-1 student guestworker program- a program designed to offer foreign college students a summer cultural exchange in the United States.
Instead, McDonald’s franchisee Andy Cheung/ Cheung Enterprises LLC and Geovisions used the J-1 program to source cheap, exploitable workers from Latin American and Asia and then treated them as a sub-minimum wage ($7.25 an hour IS minimum wage) surplus workforce at the fast food chain franchises. Though students had been promised 40 hours of work a week, they were given as few as four hours of work a week at $7.25 an hour (40 hours a week to to stand around and complain and show disrespect to your employer is not guaranteed by law), and faced housing deductions to live in substandard housing owned and controlled by Andy Cheung that brought their weekly net pay down far below minimum wage. (It's called living expenses. Welcome to the real world kids!) Cheung charged students $300 each per month to live in basement apartments he owned, (Most kids pay more than 300 dollars a month to live at home kids. Pay your bills and learn "responsibility".)packing up to eight students in a single basement. Cheung and representatives from McDonald’s labor recruiter Geovisions also made surprise visits to the apartments to intimidate students who raised concerns. (Maybe you should be willing to air your concerns in private like this. Rather than in front of customers at work. How about it kids?)
Needing to pay off the over $3000 in program fees they had incurred for the cultural exchange program, students were desperate to be scheduled for hours at the McDonalds locations. Cheung and Geovisions used this to their advantage. Students were on constant call to come in for work shifts on as little as 30 minutes' notice, and when they raised complaints of any kind, the
employer retaliated by cutting their hours even further. (Lucky you didn't work for me or you'd have been suspended or fired.)The few students who didn’t have too few hours had the opposite problem, being forced to work shifts of up to 25 hours straight. (If you really wanted more hours you wouldn't be complaining when you got them.)
When students
RELEVANT BACKGROUND FACTS ON EMPLOYERS
Cheung Enterprises LLC is a privately-held limited liability company specializing in franchising McDonalds restaurant establishments. The company was incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania on June 19, 2009 and is wholly-owned by Andrew T. Cheung of Mechanicsburg, PA and currently operates six McDonald’s facilities in the Harrisburg/Central Pennsylvania
region. The McDonald’s guestworkers were employed at 3 sites.
Geovision is a nonprofit recruiter registered with the State Department purportedly based in New Hampshire. In addition to acting as the recruiting agent for the students, Geovision acted as the students joint-employer in multiple ways including directing all student complaints regarding workplace conditions to be made with Geovisions and retaliating against students who raised concerns by engaging in workplace actions including limiting the number of hours students were assigned to work. (The agency did not cave to the unrealistic entitlements demanded by the students. BTW how did the agency limit the hours scheduled by Cheung?)
McDonald’s franchisees rely on minimum wage labor to operate the McDonald’s business model. Compliance records available from the wage and hour division show a history of Fair Labor Standards Act violations by McDonald’s franchise owners. (Minimum wage is NOT an unfair labor practice you goof!)
VIOLATIONS OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
The McDonalds guestworkers allege the following violations on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated workers including guestworkers and U.S. workers:
- record keeping violations for failure to record all hours worked
- failure to pay all hours worked resulting in a violation of minimum wage
- unlawful deductions, including for housing owned by the employer, resulting in a failure to pay minimum wage
- unlawful pre-employment expenses which should be considered deductions which result in a failure to pay minimum wage
- failure to pay overtime wages for hours worked more than 40 in a workweek
- retaliation against students for raising these issues with their employers
The McDonalds guestworkers were paid at a base rate of $7.25/hour. They were not paid for all hours worked and were not paid at a rate of 1.5 times their base rate when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Andy Cheung required some of the McDonald’s Guestworkers to sign documents confirming that Cheung Enterprises LLC would not pay overtime wages even when students worked hours in excess of 40 in a workweek. Cheung Enterprises also required students to live in basement housing owned and operated by Andy Cheung and made unlawful deductions for housing costs that dropped the students’ pay below minimum wage. Students also ask DOLWHD to fully investigate all time keeping, wage payment, and deduction systems to more fully analyze additional potential violations of the FLSA.
DOL-WHD MOU WITH ICE
Finally, McDonald’s Guestworkers request that WHD ensure deconfliction of any DHS enforcement activities against the J-1 students who are complainants and witnesses contributing to this complaint. See March 31, 2011, Revised Memorandum of Understanding between the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor Concerning Enforcement Activities at Worksites. This includes enforcement actions by ICE as well as any actions with immigration related consequences including actions that would prejudice students’ ability to obtain future visas to the United States.
Jennifer Rosenbaum, Legal Director is the authorized legal representative of the McDonald’s Guestworkers for purposes of this complaint. The McDonalds Guestworkers may be contacted through her: 217 N. Prieur St., New Orleans, LA 70112, (504) 309-5165 (office), (504) 376-6238 (cell), jjrosenbaum@nowcrj.org. Additional documents and information are available upon request.
Students respectfully ask that DOL- WHD expedite consideration of their complaint and the investigation process given their status as temporary guestworkers. Given the past retaliation against students for raising FLSA violations, the students ask that DOL conduct the investigation taking into account best practices for workplaces where retaliation has already taken place.
Previous student complaints to the State Department were referred to Geovisions. Students are contemporaneously renewing complaints about violations of State Department program J-1 Summer Work Travel regulations with the Department of State.
Submitted this 6 day of March 2013,
Sincerely,
s/ Jennifer J. Rosenbaum
__________________________________
Jennifer Rosenbaum
Counsel to Student Guestworkers
National Guestworker Alliance
217 N. Prieur St.
New Orleans, LA 70112
(504) 309-5165
jjrosenbaum@nowcrj.org
source: PennLive
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