For Planning Purposes
November 21, 2022
Media contact:
Emilio Vicente | emilio.v
COVID 19 Testers who faced wage theft and retaliation by the Grinder Group and Speedie Recovery Services to file formal Department of Labor complaint on Tuesday at 11am CT
These companies violated workers’ rights and threatened them with deportation for speaking out about their unpaid wages
Houston, TX – On Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022 at 11 AM CT, a delegation of former COVID 19 testers and representatives from FIEL and Unemployed Workers United will gather outside the Houston District Office of the United States Department of Labor to officially submit a formal wage and hour complaint against the Grinder Group and Speedie Recovery Services for failing to pay minimum wage or overtime and threatening workers with deportation for standing up for their rights.
What: Delegation to submit formal DOL complaint seeking payment of stolen wages
When: Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022 at 11 AM CT
Who: Workers previously employed by the Grinder Group and Speedie Recovery Services,
Cesar Espinosa, Executive Director of FIEL, Anahi Tapia Torres, Co-Director of
Organizing at Unemployed Workers United
Where: Houston District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, 8701 S Gessner Dr, Houston TX 77074
Background:
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grinder Group and Speedie Recovery Services operated a mobile COVID-19 testing operation in Harris County, employing hundreds of COVID testers and conducting hundreds of thousands of tests. The operation has already come under fire for numerous complaints ranging from failing to provide patient test results and unnecessarily demanding patients’ social security numbers to wage theft. The official complaint being filed tomorrow alleges the companies failed to pay workers minimum wage and overtime for their work as COVID testers and threatened to report workers to immigration if they complained.
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Unemployed Workers United operates in multiple states, including New Mexico, to respond to our current economic and health crisis with solutions that will allow all of us to thrive—anchored by five partnered national progressive organizations: People’s Action, United for Respect, Mijente, the National Black Worker Center, and Working Families Party. Our focus is to organize with local grassroots organizations to engage unemployed, underemployed and workers facing precarious employment in building power to change their living conditions in their cities and the working conditions in their workplaces.
FIEL is an immigrant led civil rights organization who advocates for just laws for immigrant youth, their families, access to higher education for all people regardless of immigration status & access to justice for our community. We believe that all students are entitled to an education. It is for this reason that we push for laws that benefit students to make education accessible to all regardless of socioeconomic status or immigration status. We fiercely advocate for our community to guide them in the challenges they face in their daily lives, whether it is the fight for comprehensive immigration reform, housing or disaster recovery.
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"For Families and Their Education" 