"Pay Your Workers, Mark Sommerfield!"

Part One: This is Pt. 1
Part Two (not posted yet)
Part Three


PROMINENT INTERIOR DESIGNER RIPS OFF THE WAGES OF AT LEAST FOUR FURNITURE MAKERS

Prominent interior designer Mark Sommerfield has made it a habit to employ immigrant Latinos, working them for months at his Potrero Hill workshop, and then never paying the full wages due. Promising his employees $10 to $26 per hour, he then turns around and sells each piece of furniture to customers for hundreds to thousands of dollars. In just one instance, workers produced a high-end lantern whose sale price was $3,701; the workers received approximately $400 in compensation which came out to $10/$12 per hour without overtime.

Workers filed complaints with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) several months ago for unpaid wages, overtime, and bounced check violations because they got tired of waiting for Sommerfield to pay them. Always promising to pay tomorrow, next week, later, the workers have been strung along for months. Four have come forward asserting their labor rights, but there are many more workers affected who are afraid of filing complaints for fear of retaliation by Sommerfield. He has threatened the workers if they report labor law violations.

One of the workers worked for over a year and half receiving his paycheck only every other week. At the mercy of Sommerfield because they needed the jobs in order to provide for their families, this worker and his colleagues continued to work under the premise that they would eventually be paid. He is owed approximately $20,000 in unpaid wages and penalties.

Another, Francisco Fuentes Miranda, worked off and on for a period of time but was not paid the last two weeks he worked for Sommerfield. "I am going because I want to be paid. I go for justice for all the workers, and for my family who needs my wages," said Miranda.

Despite countless attempts to contact him and meet privately, Sommerfield has repeatedly ignored both La Raza Centro Legal, Inc.--the workers' representative--and the workers themselves. The workers organized this action to compel Sommerfield to pay what he owes and stop violating the law.

"Wage theft is a systemic problem that impacts disproportionately the immigrant community. Employers, like Sommerfield, on a daily basis recruit, hire, and employ immigrant workers with the intent to defraud them of their wages because they think they are above the law," said Rocio Avila, the workers' lawyer.

The event emphasized how theft of wages is a chronic problem and a major part of the current economic crisis. Speakers included members from Young Workers United, the Chinese Progressive Association, La Raza Centro Legal, Inc., and the San Francisco Day Labor Program.