Ruperto Valle Santamaría has spent the past several years anxiously watching from afar as crime has skyrocketed in his native El Salvador while he earns a living as a driver for a residential care facility in Southern California. He worries constantly about his three sons, two of whom have had to drop out of college because it’s no longer safe to leave the house.
So when he learned he was receiving $38,000 in back wages and damages following a Wage and Hour investigation into the residential care facility where he works, Ruperto knew what he wanted to do with the money. As someone who never made it past the second grade, he longs for his children to be able to continue their education and enjoy the kinds of economic opportunities he’s received since coming to the United States in 2000. He also needs money to pay for the treatments that have been keeping his cancer at bay.
Ruperto has worked for C-H Community Living since 2004, driving patients with disabilities to and from home, appointments and the occasional beach outing. The position brought together two skills he had honed prior to coming to the states – caregiver and driver. He had worked as a truck driver in El Salvador and also had to care for his brother there after a stroke had incapacitated him. Today, Ruperto tends to patients suffering from Alzheimers, dementia and various other mental and physical disabilities.
But he loves the work, saying it helps keep him from getting too depressed over his family’s safety. He never even realized he was getting paid less than he was owed.
“I got scared when I saw the investigator’s badge. I thought, ‘What have I done?’ It turns out to have been a miracle,” he said.
Investigators from the Wage and Hour Division learned that Ruperto’s employer didn’t pay time and a half for hours worked beyond 40 in a work week. She accepted her responsibility upon learning of the rules, agreeing to pay Ruperto and his colleagues a collective $344,000 in back wages and damages.
Ruperto plans to use some of the money to buy plane tickets for his three sons after all of the paperwork is cleared with the U.S. Consulate for their move to America. He’s hoping they can move before tragedy strikes, noting that gangs regularly kidnap students from buses and kill them. Such circumstances prompted one of his sons to stop pursuing his law degree focusing on human rights while his other son halted his journalism education.
Ruperto said the Wage and Hour Division’s investigation happened at a critical time in his life when he was fighting for both his own health and the well-being of his family. He and his wife agreed she will continue to stay in El Salvador for the time being to care for ailing elders.
“May God bless the Wage and Hour Division for the work they do,” Ruperto said of the investigators who worked on his case. “They remind me that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.”
If you are concerned about your company’s pay practices or you are an employer who wants to be sure you are complying with the law, learn more on the Wage and Hour Division’s website or by calling 1-866-4-US-WAGE (1-866-487-9243). You also can check to see if back wages are being held for you as the result of an investigation by using the online tool, Workers Owed Wages.
Leo Kay is the director of public affairs for the department in San Francisco.
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