Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) residents of Las Vegas are encouraged to voice their concerns about the workplace by calling the federal government.

"If you know of instances of malfeasance, stories of employees being shortchanged, or of harassment, criminalization, and wage theft I want to know about it," US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told a recent forum in Las Vegas.

"My department can help you. What we are doing is to empower workers to understand what their rights are so they will be able to start taking action," she also said.

Solis said she wants to "open the doors of the Department of Labor (DOL) to low-skilled immigrant workers" to make sure that their concerns are met.

"It is particularly important to immigrant community, to those who do not speak English.

My role is to make available the tools and information in your language," she said.

Solis told the audience to call state-level DOL offices to inform them of any abuse in the workplace.

The DOL Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has a local office in Nevada which can respond to workers concerns quickly, she noted.

The WHD is responsible for enforcing US federal labor laws on minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, child labor and special employment, family and medical leave, migrant workers. It also enforces laws on worker protections in certain temporary worker programs, and the prevailing wages for government service and construction contracts.