L&L client list a who's who of area businessesRestaurants, golf courses and even a yacht club depended on company to supply workers By James Scott (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Restaurants, golf courses and even a yacht club depended on company to supply workers L&L Services provided hundreds of illegal immigrants to the area's top restaurants, golf courses, cemeteries and construction companies, grossing as much as $3 million a year and serving as a pipeline for illegal immigration in the Lowcountry. A federal civil court case against L&L Services that was settled last year provides a window into how the business operated and shows who benefited from the workers' labor. Civil court records contain a five-page spreadsheet listing 238 businesses and individuals that relied on the company, from the Kiawah Island Golf Resort and Carolina Yacht Club to McCrady's, Roberts of Charleston and Peninsula Grill. It wasn't just private businesses that depended on L&L Services. The city of Hanahan used an L&L Services laborer to work two days a week on a city garbage truck. North Charleston's municipal golf course and Wescott Plantation also employed workers as maintenance crews briefly before the company shut down. Related storyExperts say many businesses have turned to labor companies to quench the thirst for cheap labor in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Robert Rodriguez, an assistant special agent in charge at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta, said jobs are the magnet that lures illegal immigrants. Labor agencies are a focus of ICE investigations, though the agency does not have specific data for South Carolina. "ICE is focusing on employers who are egregiously violating immigration laws," he said. "No industry, regardless of size, type or location, is immune from abiding by the law." Many such companies follow the law requiring that workers prove legal working status. Still, some less-scrupulous businesses have found a niche, preying on workers desperate for a job and companies willing to not ask questions. Dottie Karst, president of North Charleston-based staffing agency Charles Foster Co., said roughly 100 staffing agencies operate in the area, most of which obey the laws. Companies such as L&L Services give the industry a black eye, she said. "I think there are still pockets," said Karst, past president of the S.C. Association of Personnel and Staffing. "I think our government is trying to cut down on them. We are trying to cut down on them." Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the trend of outsourcing labor to staffing agencies started in the agriculture industry and branched out into construction, restaurants and landscaping. "It's a way for businesses to pass on the risk of employing illegal immigrants to another firm," said Krikorian, whose organization promotes increased immigration enforcement. "It gives them plausible deniability." Dennis Nolan, a University of South Carolina labor law professor, said it's easy to blame the businesses when the reality is that part of the problem is rooted in the consumer's desire to get the best possible price. "If you are in business to make a profit, you look for every opportunity to cut costs," he said. "If your biggest expense is labor, and someone says I can provide you a dishwasher for $7 an hour, you will not ask too many questions. Cost drives these decisions." Records show L&L Services housed its workers at area rental properties and an old migrant farm on Johns Island, making it easy to pick up and transport hundreds of workers each day to jobs sites around the Lowcountry. Companies typically paid L&L Services $10 an hour per worker. The company pocketed $4 an hour, records show, and paid the worker $6. Business boomed. Records show L&L Services at times billed more than $60,000 a week. All of L&L Services' former clients contacted by the newspaper said they dropped the company when revelations of the business' practices became public in 2004. Former clients also said the company guaranteed that its workers were in the country legally. L&L Services' contract with the Carolina Yacht Club, which was included in the court records, clearly states that the workers are the responsibility of L&L Services. "The parties understand that L&L is an independent contractor, and all of the personnel assigned by L&L to client's business in order to fill the relevant job positions are employees of L&L and only of L&L," the contract states. Mike Scioli, the general manager at North Charleston's municipal golf course at Wescott Plantation, said L&L Services sent him a letter soliciting work, complete with recommendations from other well-known local businesses. A copy of the letter lists 23 local restaurants, golf courses and construction companies as references, including high-profile names such as McCrady's and Kiawah Island's Ocean Course. Scioli said such a clientele list gave him the impression the company was legitimate. He used the company less than three weeks before its hiring practices became public and he dropped them. Scioli said that after L&L Services, Wescott used two other labor agencies to fill its needs, though now the company tries to hire most of its workers directly. "The list of references was quite impressive. The golf courses on there were big players," Scioli said of L&L Services. "You never put anyone on a reference sheet that you don't want them to call." Clint Sloan, sommelier and assistant general manager at McCrady's, said his restaurant used the workers to wash dishes until L&L Services raised its prices. Few of the workers, he said, spoke English, which made him suspicious. "We were operating under the assurance that they were legal," Sloan said. "The workers were really hard working. It was a big loss to our restaurant labor cost-wise." Reach James Scott at 745-5855 or jscott@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 16 comment(s)
Posted by mac0cm4 on December 16, 2007 at 7:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I bet they'd find plenty of legal workers willing to work for $10 an hour to do that work. $6/hr would be pushing it.
Posted by moonpie on December 16, 2007 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
EXACTLY macOcm4! How about college students, people on welfare, seniors looking to supplement their incomes, etc,etc. LEGAL citizens USED to do these jobs? This economic boom didn't start when the illegals got here, it was already under way! Cheap labor drove them here. Wait until the economy takes a down turn and these ILLEGALS have jobs we want. What's going to happen then. At some point there will be more people on welfare and gov assistance than people to pay for them... Then what?
WE MUST REFUSE TO ALLOW BUSINESSES TO USE THEM! PERIOD...
Posted by Mayor on December 16, 2007 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'd rather have one hard working illegal than 6 bad attitude blacks anyday. None of the illegals are on welfare, the ladies don't have 5 kids with no sight of Dad. The 5 illegals I know are hard working, honest, and a pleasure to be around. Never a day of griping, only conscientous hard work. There is not a black, man or woman, who would do what they do, for what they do it for, and even come close to doing it correctly. That's the way it is! Bring more illegals and trade our unemployed, welfare sucking you know who's for them. An East Sider wouldn't last one day in Guatemala.
Posted by majorjohnson on December 16, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mayor has a point, though it's hardly restricted to blacks and it's curious that he would mix race into it. When I grew up we worked fields to make money, chunking, weeding, de-tasselling, picking, baling...try getting a high schooler to do any of those today, much less someone who's on welfare or unemployment.
And it's not restricted to field work either. Look at the Voight workers...they got paid training, jobs that pay above average for the area (probably more than most have ever made), health benefits, vacations...and what do they do? They unionize and try to get their wages raised, biting the hand that has bettered their lives. I'll bet right now Voight wishes they had just gotten illegals.
What's more, carpentry, masonry and plumbing and such are skilled trades, not low level jobs. They are excellent employment, and there are plenty of people around here who would do those jobs given decent wages...I know people who just can't afford to continue in those trades due to illegals taking their jobs for cheap wages.
Posted by MarkSCCOT on December 16, 2007 at 9:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Strangely enough, I was in a situation where an employer was hiring illegals and victimizing them with low wages and long hours with no overtime. I attempted to report this to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I was shuffled through numerous phone systems and automatated email systems. I was persistent and nothing was ever done. Ironically one of the names I was given was Mr. Rodriguez who never returned numerous messages. This agency is unwilling and unable to enforce the law. I am sure Mr. Rodriguez is enjoying his GS pay and liberal federal vacation.
Posted by bigwhip on December 16, 2007 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Where is the list of businesses that hire ILLEGALS? Time to boycott them.
Posted by NativeSon on December 16, 2007 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Legal immigrants pass through a considerable process to be allowed in this great country such as health and background screening.
Illegals (fake immigrants) have no such control and therefore enter America through dishonest and covert means and further compound their felonies by stealing American's ID in order to dishonestly obtain cars, housing and, yes, welfare.
These people (humans as mayor calls them) harbor criminal pasts, Hepatitis, Tuburculosis and other contageous illnesses common to the area from which they left.
They are hard working for meager pay because if they complain or stick out in any way there is a potential for arrest and return to their country of origin.
Meanwhile, American VETERANS are not able to find work or afford housing because some TREASONIST company can get cheap labor from humans who cannot speak up because they have no right to employment in the first place.
Get real South Carolina - commit treason against Americans by hiring illegals and go to prison.
You want cheap labor, grab a guy who is homeless and looks like hell because he lost his job to an illegal and now has to live on the streets and beg for crumbs.
Posted by MajorTom on December 16, 2007 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"part of the problem is rooted in the consumer's desire to get the best possible price"
Course Syllabus
Duh 101
Posted by merrillthinks on December 16, 2007 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
People are not legal or illegal. ACTIONS are legal or illegal. It demeans all of us to continue with this ignorant language.
Posted by bkeelin on December 16, 2007 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Look at the Voight workers...they got paid training, jobs that pay above average for the area (probably more than most have ever made"
This comment is an uniformed comment. The Voight workers were promised $40k plus but when it came down to it they were given approx 25k. The management said it was because that was the going wage hear in Charleston. They were promised one thing but got something else. Most of the workers at Voight had one type of specialty skill or another and were making decent money but they took a chance on improving their quality of life and got hosed. That is why they unionized and that is the reason for the unions. The bigger older unions like the UAW have bancrupted companies because of their greed but in the Voight situation they were justified.
Posted by majorjohnson on December 16, 2007 at 8:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Horse hocky bkeelin...I know quite a few of those people, they went through trident tech for training, got it all paid for, came out with more than they started with, and weren't promised 40K. If you actually believe Voight promised 40K a year to people with no skills in building aircraft in the North Charleston area, well, lets just say what I'm offering will buy you at least a bottle of mouthwash to clean out the taste when it's over.
Posted by beespencer on December 16, 2007 at 9:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Being that I work across the street from Vought, workers are being $14 per hour to start. If the workers work 10 hours per day, it would be around $25,000...but the normal shift is 12 hours, 4 days a week during the week....that would be closer to $40,000 per year
Posted by eyfigueroa on December 17, 2007 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Clint Sloan, sommelier and assistant general manager at McCrady's, said his restaurant used the workers to wash dishes until L&L Services raised its prices. Few of the workers, he said, spoke English, which made him suspicious.
"We were operating under the assurance that they were legal," Sloan said. "The workers were really hard working. It was a big loss to our restaurant labor cost-wise.""
yeah , he was suspicious but not so much that he would call ICE. the real reason is just like he mentioned, L&L raised their hourly bill rate. these major clients DO KNOW whats going on but they use the "plausible deniability" route to cover their butts. i say go after Kiawah, McCrady's and the like.
also, we all complain about illegals but have a fit when prices go up on goods and services. same with american made goods vs. goods made in china, mexico, etc.
can't have it both ways, we either bite the bullet and pay higher prices in order to curb the illegal alien issue or shut up and let things continue as is.
Posted by eyfigueroa on December 17, 2007 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
MAYOR: you are so full of it. you just had to bring race into the issue. so are you saying white people are too good for these jobs? because i don't see white people lining up to rake leaves or wash dishes.
you know illegals and they are wonderful hardworking people. you don't turn them in, yet you cry when black people break laws.
hypocrisy thy name is MAYOR!
i guess there aren't ANY whites or illegals on welfare or food stamps.
thanks mayor for clearing up that misconception i had about human nature in general.
Posted by hipchick on December 17, 2007 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Nolan should change his statement to read "Greed drives these decisions"; not "costs". Would these businesses hire "criminals"? Probably not. Illegal alines are committing a crime by being in this country "illegally".
Posted by STJ_Boi on December 17, 2007 at 7:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mayor, you are an ignoramus. Evolve monkey.