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TMCNet: Closed temp agency is sued

[February 27, 2008]

Closed temp agency is sued

(Providence Journal, The (RI) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 27--At least 130 workers are suing a former Pawtucket temporary employment agency for two weeks' wages they say they were never paid last year, plus triple damages for fraud and punitive damages "in the amount appropriate to punish and make an example" of the employer.


The class-action suit, filed in Superior Court this month, states that some workers hired by Mobile Workforce Inc. "were forced from their homes" and a few were jailed for non-payment of child-support, after the agency, formerly located at 267 Barton St., failed to pay them. The non-payment damaged credit ratings and disrupted what for many are fragile minimum-wage finances, according to their lawyer.

It also alleges that Carol Ann Bessette and Nicole Underwood -- whom workers said are mother and daughter -- operated the agency as "a sham," and conducted "a scheme" to defraud workers, knowing that they didn't have the money to pay them.

Workers decided to sue after a fruitless seven-month wait, during which they've held protests and filed unpaid wage complaints with the state Department of Labor, said Gregory Pehrson, of Fuerza Laboral ("Power of Workers"), a Central Falls advocacy agency that announced the lawsuit.

A labor department spokeswoman confirmed that the agency is investigating those complaints.

According to the lawsuit, the IRS had placed tax liens on Bessette and Underwood "during 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007," in amounts greater than $120,000, and, "upon information and belief," the IRS seized, attached or levied the funds in their bank accounts.

An IRS agent whose name and phone number were posted on the agency's door on the day Mobile Workforce closed last summer could not be reached.

The lawsuit seeks to bar Bessette and Underwood, identified as principals and/or owners of Mobile Workforce Inc., from ever owning or operating "any employment agency, temporary employment agency, or otherwise employing workers in the state of Rhode Island."

Neither Bessette nor Underwood could be reached. A Boston lawyer believed to be representing the women did not return a call.

Lee Carpenter, the North Scituate lawyer who represents the workers, said the $150,000 claim figure "is a very conservative estimate. Some of these workers were not paid for two to four weeks; checks bounced, and some were never written."

Many of the workers live paycheck to paycheck, he said, "so there are people who gave up their apartments or were thrown in jail when they couldn't pay their child support ? When you're paid minimum wage and you're paying rent weekly, it's a big deal when you lose even a thousand dollars in wages.

"So that's why we're asking for wages, and damages for either negligence or fraud, depending on what the facts turn out to be. My belief is that if [Bessette and Underwood] knew they didn't have money in their account and sent people to work anyway; that's fraud."

According to corporations records in the Rhode Island secretary of state's office, the agency changed its name from "Mobile Work Force" to "Mobile Workforce" in May 2007, one month before it closed its doors.

Carpenter added, "One of the apparent principals, Carol Ann Bessette, had incorporated least two agencies -- one called Able Personnel, and the other Blue Collar Staffing."

According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings in Providence, Bessette declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2005. Court records list 10 creditors, including three banks, a mortgage company and the Rhode Island Division of Taxation.

Carpenter said the IRS has seized some of Bessette's assets, including her house.

Pehrson, of Fuerza Laboral, said that originally 60 people complained they were not paid, but as people continue contacting the Central Falls advocacy group, the number appears to be more than doubling.

"That someone would be making a profit off the backs of the most low-income people we have in our state -- it's really unfair," said Pehrson. He said the group includes Latino, Haitian, African-American and Caucasian Workers.

"One of the big problems right now is that since company closed down, nobody has their W-2 forms," said Pehrson.

According to Pehrson, temporary workers arrived at the Mobile Workforce office on July 13, 2007, to pick up their paychecks, as they did every week.

But on that day, they encountered "a locked door with a sign that read: 'Closed by IRS. Today Only. Everyone will get Paid. Call I.R.S.'" The sign gave a contact name and number for an agent at the IRS office in Warwick.

Pehrson's group photographed a subsequent sign on the door that stated, "We are Working on a Solution. We want you to get paid!! Please be patient -- we are trying hard -- Thank you."

Pehrson said that Vivian Morris, one of two named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, taped her own sign on the door. It said, "How much of my patience is going to feed my kids? Hope to hear from you before we starve."

James Ravenscraft, 40, of Central Falls, is the other named plaintiff.

Ravenscraft said after the company failed to pay him $560, he was arrested and spent several days in prison for failing to pay child support. He was evicted from his apartment and is staying with friends.

He said Mobile Workforce had gotten him a job at a mill that manufactured mirror frames for Hilton hotels.

Mobile Workforce "used to pick us and drop us off," he said. "We came back on a Friday and the door was locked and there was a sign on the window. ?Closed by the IRS. Will re-open, you will get paid." I noticed that there was no ?when," " he said this week.

Ravenscraft said he still hasn't caught up financially.

"I'm trying to catch up on bills, stay current on child support," he said. He said he has worked construction and "jack-of-all-trade" jobs, but the job market is slow at the moment. "I've been picking up aluminum cans by the side of the road" for cash, he said, to help pay his bills.

To see more of the The Providence Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.projo.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Providence Journal, R.I.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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