Living in California has imbred a kind of presumption in me and probably most people that illegal workers are the “Mexicans” . As with all blanket statements, they’re usually wrong and the same is true for this assumption. One group of these illegal workers are international students who come here and are expected to pay a tuition 2-3x a US Citizen would pay, probably even more once exchange rates (relatively speaking) are figured into the equation. On top of that, they are only allowed to work on campus and part-time, which is probably only at minimum wage. With such limited legal options, many work under the table performing jobs paid by the hour.
My girlfriend is in this situation, unable to work legally and not fortunate enough to have parents that can support her. She’s managed to keep a steady job, but not without incident. Her last job was at one of the hundred mobile phone shops in K-Town. Her employer, a first generation Korean guy had generally always respected his employees, but was uniformly late in paying them. It got to a point when she couldn’t pay her bills on time and risked hurting her credit. She made the decision to leave and hope to get paid the $1,800 owed to her later when her employer had the money. But when her boss found out, he lost it. He said “If you ever come around here again, I’ll call the INS! You can forget about your pay check.” He seemed to think it was his right to pay her and not his obligation. I am sure the threat is an idle one, but it drives home the point. What rights does she have?
Turns out, there are many organizations representing illegal workers. For that, I am grateful. One in particular, respresents Korean laborers and has been very helpful to my girlfriend. By advising her of her rights, informing her how little legal power he has over her, she was able to get paid in the end… albiet 3 weeks later. She had kept insisting that he give her some money. He wrote her a bad check, that when she cashed, bounced twice. But that was his fatal mistake. It gave her all the bargaining power she needed to take him to small claims court. He conceeded he was a jerk and gave her cash! The funny thing is, he wanted the bounced check back. As if that would protect her? Bank records are immutable and photocopies hold up well enough in court.
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