Miami-Dade roofing company owes workers $34,000 in wage theft case, the county says
Seven months after a county hearing examiner said a South Miami-Dade roofer owed five day-laborers $34,095 after a successful claim of wage theft, the roofer hasn’t paid.
Now, each of the workers has filed in county civil court for a final civil judgment to force Chow Roofing Services to pay the wage-theft awards. They’re represented by attorney Oscar Londoño, executive director of We Count!, which describes itself as a South Florida “community union of low-wage immigrant workers and families.”
This follows the May ruling against Chow and, after the company didn’t pay within 45 days, a July judgment of an interest penalty against Chow.
On Dec. 19, after We Count! held a protest outside the South Miami-Dade home that’s Chow’s registered address, company president Ana Varela Diaz insisted to a Miami Herald reporter that Chow paid the workers properly.
Hearing examiner Peter Kouchalakos disagreed with Varela Diaz after hearing each side’s evidence in the five cases on May 18, 2021. In each case, Kouchalakos, as he can do by county law, ordered Chow to pay restitution and liquidated damages that were three times the amount of the wages in the claim.
According to the legal filings, Kouchalakos ruled that Chow owed:
▪ Pedro Marcos $6,675 in wages and damages after not paying him $2,225 for work done from Jan. 28, 2020, through Feb. 18, 2020.
▪ Alejandro Perez Gonzalez $5,910 in wages and damages after not paying him $1,970 for work done from Jan. 27, 2020, through Feb. 18, 2020.
▪ Nico Perez Gonzalez $8,415 in wages and damages after not paying him $2,805 for work done from Jan. 20, 2020, through Feb. 18, 2020.
▪ Wilson Perez Gonzalez $7,395 in wages and damages after not paying him $2,465 for work done from Jan. 27, 2020, through Feb. 18, 2020.
▪ Otto Perez Soto $5,700 in wages and damages after not paying him $1,900 for work done from Jan. 20, 2020, through Feb. 18, 2020.
If you think you’ve been the victim of underpayment or non-payment of wages in Miami-Dade and are owed between $60 and $15,000, you have a year within your last day of work with the company to file a wage theft complaint. Fill out the form and email it to consumer@miamidade.gov, fax it to 786-469-2303 or snail mail it to Miami-Dade Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, Office of Consumer Protection, 601 NW First Ct., 18th Floor, Miami, FL 33136.
