Temporary workers agency accused of wage theft

CINCINNATI - When Jermaine Brown got his paycheck for pressure washing inside the Great American Ballpark (GABP) last season, he was upset over one of the deductions; a fee for transportation to the workplace.

Brown says he was told the bus ride from Labor Works in Walnut Hills to GABP, and the $6 fee for it, was required by his employer.

The problem, he says, was by deducting the fee. His hourly wage fell below the Federal minimum of $7.30 an hour.

"They just wanted that money," Brown says.

Labor Works provides day workers for several businesses around town, including the Cincinnati Reds.

They perform jobs like cleaning, often for minimum wage.

Labor Works, whose motto is "Zero no-shows,"  has several vehicles to shuttle workers where they need to go.

Sean Fore, CEO for Labor Works, says the fee is completely voluntary and workers sign a form acknowledging that.

"We ask the employee if they have a vehicle. If they don't have a vehicle and if mass transit does not run...we do have vans available," Fore says.

"We think that's a complete lie," says Dan Moore, of the Interfaith Workers Center in Over-the-Rhine.

His organization acts as an advocate for low wage workers.

Moore says what Labor Works tells the media is not what they tell the workers.

"When we met with them (Labor Works management) in 2010, they specifically said that they had to bring everybody there (Great American Ballpark) in the company bus, according to the contract," says Moore.

Apparently confirming Moore's assertion, a letter to Interfaith Workers Executive Director Don Sherman Fore argues the fee is necessary and does refer to it as a "mandatory transpiration fee."

Fore acknowledges the Federal Dept of Labor and Labor Works have a "difference of opinion" about how optional that fee really is.

Hamilton County owns the GABP.

Commissioner Todd Portune says he was unaware of the dispute over the fee, but said, "it sounds illegal."

Meanwhile, Karen Forgus, Vice President for Business Operations for the Cincinnati Reds says their contract  with Labor Works allows for workers to be paid above minimum wage, and that they will "absolutely look into this."