"We are in the justice business, and I’m so honored and privileged to have provided justice to these vulnerable workers," said New York State Attorney General Letitia James in announcing Friday afternoon a $450,000 settlement for more than 100 home health aides employed by Allcare Homecare Agency of Brooklyn.  

More than a dozen of the aides had complained about wage theft, and threats that they would be reported to ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if they complained. Many of the workers are undocumented.

Speaking through an interpreter, Justa Barrios, wearing sunglasses, said she worked for Allcare for 18 years and deserved better treatment.

"We are human beings. We have families. And we have people we care for who have serious health issues," Barrios said through an interpreter.

Another worker, Sileni Martinez, called the working conditions "abuse."

"I, for one, was employed for 25 years and was paid only 13 hours for 24-hour shifts," Martinez said, also through an interpreter.

The investigation began after two advocacy groups, TakeRoot Justice and the National Mobilization Against SweatShops, or NMASS, contacted the attorney general's office.

James said her investigators found the company failed to pay overtime or to offer paid leave, as required by law. She said the inquiry also found that Allcare threatened complaining workers with deportation, in violation of a new state law.

"The law creates much-needed penalties for employers who retaliate against employees by threatening them with contacting immigration authorities," James said.

The workers’ plight began a couple of years ago while the company was performing a private internal audit of its employees' work status. That's when the threats to call ICE began. And while the attorney general says the company officials never made good on those threats, it was enough to qualify as retaliation.

An Allcare spokesman tells NY1, "Even though we disagree with the underlying issues brought up in the complaint, we believe this is a good result with the New York State Attorney General, for all parties involved...." 

The dozen or so workers who came forward will each receive an extra $8,000 for emotional distress, a warning, James says, that the cost of targeting immigrant workers is high.