Advocates advise injured day laborers to seek workers compensation, other rights

By Lexi Bondar

Carlos Ramirez doesn’t mind working with half of a finger. He lost the tip of his pinky to a butcher knife while attempting to chop small pieces of wood. Two years later, Ramirez is back to his life as a day laborer in San Diego with little concern over his deformity.
“It was a stupid accident,” he said. “I don’t miss it much.”
To some, Ramirez’s perspective may seem humbling. But accidents like these happen often to Latino laborers and domestic workers in San Diego, San Francisco and throughout California, according to officials and advocacy groups. Many accidents result in serious injury or death.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, out of the 990 fatal work injuries in 2006, 667 of them were Hispanic or Latino and born outside of the states.
Some Latino laborers, especially undocumented workers, suffer losses associated with injuries, pay and worker’s compensation. Advocates and attorneys said workers need to know more about their rights as employees and how to take care of themselves when facing risky job conditions.
However, there are a few outreach programs around to help them.
“They are usually involved in dangerous settings,” said Julio Loyola, founder of Assoceria Legal Para Conjaderos, a local organization in San Francisco set up to assist uneducated workers.
“Their safety on the job is a big problem,” said Loyola. “Usually they are unaware of the dangers around them.”
Loyola said that many injuries are a result from falls, cuts, burns and exposure to harmful chemicals. Most of these accidents, he said, are not reported and the victim is rarely compensated.
All California workers—whether or not they are legally authorized to work in the United States—are protected by state laws regulating wages and working conditions, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations. Even so, many undocumented workers who are injured or not paid their wages do not seek help because they are afraid of getting deported said Loyola.
Susan Levin, attorney and supervisor of the worker’s compensation program in Santa Clara, said the law can help, but cases are made difficult when the employee has little information about the job.
“Most of these workers don’t even know who they are working for,” said Levin.
Levin suggested that knowing detailed information about the employer is vital when it comes to processing a case.
“Workers should note the names and addresses of these locations and any other information such as (vehicle) license plates and physical locations.”
Loyola noted that this is hard for some workers to do because of language barriers. They may not be aware of safety precautions, or unable to read warnings and signs.
In a survey of 240 Spanish-speaking domestic workers by the nonprofit research firm DataCenter and the San Francisco Department of Health, 63 percent of the women interviewed considered their work hazardous. According to the report, released last year, 93 percent said they did not make enough to pay for living expenses.
And just this year, some San Francisco carpenters testified at an informational hearing before members of a San Francisco supervisors committee that part of their wages were allegedly skimmed by unscrupulous supervisors at a worksites in Bayview Hunter’s Point.
Outreach programs are designed to teach the Spanish-speaking laborers about their rights as employees.
La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL), located on Valencia Street in the Mission District, seeks to empower laborers.
“We do constant ‘know your rights’ trainings to both day laborers and domestic workers,” said Hillary Ronen, Coordinator of the Worker's Rights Unit at LRCL.

According to LRCL’s web site (www.lrcl.org), they connect hundreds of jobs to workers every month; offer occupational health training and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes.
Loyola’s organization also works out of the offices at LRCL and helps workers who have not been paid their wages.
Regular meetings occur Tuesdays at 5 p.m.
The organization has recovered more than $70,000 on behalf of workers since January 2008, said Loyola.
“We give advice and take on cases,” said Loyola. “The are many obstacles that burden many workers and we try to help them as much as we can.”