NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Four New Haven workers filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against H&L Plastics Co. and its owner, Charles Bolton, charging that they had worked for between five and 17 weeks without receiving their pay.
The workers are represented by students in the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School.
The statement said Fredy Galvez Ortiz and Welser Morales Roblero of Hamden, and Edgar Catalan Sandoval and Antonio Rodriguez of New Haven comprised H&L's entire workforce for much of last year. They produced fiberglass parts for industries including Connecticut Transit and local water sanitation plants.
In the suit, the workers alleged that throughout the summer and fall of 2012, they were paid with checks drawn on an empty bank account. It said that with statutory penalties, they may be entitled to more than $55,000 in damages.
The lawsuit alleges that H&L Plastics' owner denied the workers wages in violation of federal and state wage laws. H&L did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, the workers joined with Unidad Latina en Acción, a grass-roots immigrant and worker justice organization in New Haven, and demanded pay for 50 weeks of unpaid work.