NEW BRUNSWICK — Israel Lopez emigrated from Mexico to New Brunswick looking for a better life for his family. He got a job at a deli in the city, but realized sometime later that he was being paid less than the legal minimum wage.

Lopez, 36, didn’t say anything to his boss because "I didn’t know how to recover my wages without being fired."

His dilemma is the same one suffered by thousands of workers in New Jersey and nationwide — they are the victims of wage theft, according to two community activist groups that fought for Lopez and other New Brunswick residents in the same situation.

The fight was resolved earlier this month when the New Brunswick City Council adopted what is, according to the New Jersey League of Municipalities, the state’s first local ordinance against wage theft — paying less than state and federally required minimum wage and overtime.

"This sets a precedent for other New Jersey municipalities to follow," said Jason Rowe, a spokesman for Unity Square, one of the community groups. A second immigrant worker organization, New Labor, joined Unity Square in its push for local wage legislation.

The new ordinance, which takes effect Wednesday, applies to licenses the city issues for the operation of food service, retail and a variety of other types of businesses in the city — licenses that come up for renewal every year.

Wage theft is illegal in New Jersey and, under the New Brunswick ordinance, any license holder found to have violated the state ban on wage theft — and is still violating it — will not have their license applications renewed for the new year. The decision can be appealed to the city council.

Immigrant and civil rights organizations praised the city’s push to go after business owners who violate fair wage laws:

"The implementation and enforcement of these laws has been an issue," said Chia-Chia Wang, coordinator of civic participation for the Immigrant Rights Program, an arm of the Newark branch of the American Friends Service Committee. "So if municipalities can ensure better enforcement of state and federal laws it means a lot to local immigrants."

New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill also applauded the move.

"I am pleased that the city council, community leaders and the city administration were able to work together to pass an ordinance to penalize those who are guilty of wage theft," Cahill said. "Companies that take part in such behavior have no place in New Brunswick and the city will not condone businesses that engage in this type of illegal activity."

Lopez was one of the city residents who testified in support of the ordinance before the council.

"I want it to be known that many of us workers are exploited and not respected as people," Lopez said. "They (the employers) have the power to fire us whenever they want, and sometimes they don’t even pay us for work we’ve already done."

Lopez said he "finally stood up for my rights, filed a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Labor and was able to reclaim a considerable sum of wages stolen from me."

"My employer didn’t learn," he said, adding he was eventually fired. "Instead, my employer hired someone new in my role and continues the same abusive practices today. With this ordinance granting us the power to revoke business licenses, we have the ability as a community to say enough to these abusers."

One effect of the new ordinance, said Wang, is to "raise the issue (of wage theft) and highlight the implication of not getting paid fairly for the larger community."

Unity Square and New Labor did a study in the summer of 2013 of a specific area of New Brunswick (mainly in the city’s Second Ward, bound by Commercial and Livingston avenues and Welton and Sandford streets), which showed one in six residents had been victims of wage theft in the past two years.

The study, released July 30, used $7.25 an hour as the minimum wage and an overtime rate of time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week.

"By passing this ordinance, the council sends a clear message," said Lilia Saramiento, a New Labor member and resident of New Brunswick. "New Brunswick’s economic success story is based on shared prosperity and community values, not lawlessness and exploitation."

Star-Ledger staff writer Amy Ellis Nutt contributed to this report.

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