Every week after the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace introduced a brand new unit to prosecute wage theft, it’s accusing a pair of twins of stealing building employees’ cash — and charging one with assaulting and threatening two day laborers.
Prosecutors on Friday charged Lulzim “Luis” Shabaj, 41, in New York State Supreme Court with scheme to defraud, saying that he and his twin brother Gzim “Jimmy” Shabaj had stolen 1000’s of {dollars} from the Spanish-speaking employees by declining to pay them for his or her work at a web site in Harlem.
Prosecutors mentioned that Gzim Shabaj, who was charged earlier this week, had responded to 1 employee’s early September request to be paid by pulling out a knife and, together with his different hand, repeatedly punching the employee within the head till his ear bled.
About three weeks later, a second day laborer requested for his cash. This time, prosecutors mentioned, Gzim Shabaj ripped a aspect mirror off the employee’s van and repeatedly hit the car with the indifferent mirror, denting a hubcap and cracking the windshield. He additionally hit the laborer within the shoulder, and threatened to name immigration enforcement on him, cursing at him and telling him: “Hispanics, get out of the country.”
The laborer referred to as 911, and Gzim Shabaj fled. When the law enforcement officials arrived, Lulzim Shabaj deliberately gave them the incorrect title and birthday for his twin, prosecutors mentioned. He then canceled one of many employee’s paychecks.
The twins and their building contracting firm, 3 Brothers, which was charged as a 3rd defendant, had been accused of stealing greater than $7,500 in complete from the 2 employees. (A 3rd brother who works with them was not concerned and was not accused.)
A spokesman for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Gzim Shabaj, mentioned “Mr. Shabaj has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. At this time, we are reviewing initial discovery from the district attorney’s office and urge the public to reserve judgment while we conduct our investigation into the complicated case.”
“As with any individual charged with a crime, my client is innocent until proven guilty by a jury,” mentioned a lawyer for Lulzim Shabaj, Patricia A. Wright.
The choose, Diane Kiesel, ordered Lulzim Shabaj to be fitted with an digital ankle monitor and issued orders of safety for the 2 day laborers.
The case was the primary introduced for the reason that Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace introduced its new unit throughout a news convention on the headquarters of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union. District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg and different officers emphasised that wage theft isn’t any much less against the law than different types of larceny.
“If someone dips into my pocket and steals my wallet, they could go to jail,” mentioned Manny Pastreich, the president of the native, beginning a chorus that was echoed by many others in the course of the occasion. “But if an unscrupulous employer steals thousands or even millions from workers’ paychecks, too often they just get a slap on the wrist or worse, plain old get away with it.”
Over the past several years, prosecutors throughout the nation have turn into more and more concerned in wage theft circumstances, which have an effect on hundreds of thousands of employees. Between 2017 and 2020, losses amounted to billions of {dollars} of stolen wages, in line with a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based assume tank.
It is uncommon for wage theft to be accompanied by bodily violence — continuously such circumstances contain extra sophisticated maneuvering by employers to maintain employees from being paid in full. But the accusations in opposition to the Shabaj twins neatly illustrate the purpose that the district lawyer is searching for to press with the brand new unit.
“Wage theft is very clearly a public safety issue,” Mr. Bragg mentioned in a press release on Friday. “These workers demanded their fair pay, and in return, we allege, they were targeted with physical violence and threats of deportation. We will not stand idly by while hardworking New Yorkers’ lives and livelihoods are jeopardized.”
The workplace’s Worker Protection Unit, led by Rachana Pathak, goals to help unpaid employees in a number of industries, together with retail and repair as nicely as building. The new unit will even incorporate the workplace’s Construction Fraud Task Force, which aggressively prosecuted wage theft and scrutinized employee deaths. Ms. Pathak is dealing with the prosecution of the twins, and can be persevering with as the supervising lawyer of the Construction Fraud Task Force.
Mr. Bragg additionally introduced that his workplace would make investments $100,000 in a Stolen Wage Fund to assist present restitution for victims, and mentioned that the workplace could ultimately make investments $500,000 if the operation of the fund goes nicely. Finally, Mr. Bragg introduced his assist for a invoice launched by Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz and State Senator Neil Breslin, which might enable prosecutors to cost these accused of wage theft with extra critical felonies, relying on the quantity stolen and the variety of employees charged.
Jefferson Siegel contributed reporting.