Reports of labor disputes between job-seekers and Chinatown's employment agencies have been on the rise following the financial crisis. Immigrant job-seekers deplore these agencies, which they say hoodwink them and take advantage of their lack of knowledge.

When Fujianese immigrant Chen Guolong touched off an incident that caused over 100 bystanders to encircle a Chinatown employment agency, he had already been cheated three times by the agency that month.

Once, after taking a long-distance bus out-of-state to work in a Chinese restaurant, he was fired after only two days. Later he learned that the restaurant manager made a practice of recruiting workers through Chinatown employment agencies to cover busy weekends, under the pretext of offering long-term work, to then fire them immediately. Minus the employment agency's fee and the cost of transport, Chen only broke even on that weekend.

It has become common for employment agencies and potential employers to collude, riding roughshod over job-seekers. Agencies accept fees to connect Chinese immigrants with employers, mostly Chinese restaurants, who frequently fire them on flimsy excuses after short periods of time, or even fail to show up to meet their new hires, leaving them in the lurch after long bus trips. When job-seekers return to demand their money back, agencies refuse flat-out, or else offer alternative jobs that they know will not be suitable for the job-seeker.

However, some employment agencies contend that many applicants exaggerate their qualifications, claiming that they can do work that they cannot. When they are found out and fired by their employers, agencies refuse their demands for refunds, saying they cannot be held responsible for the job-seeker's own dishonesty.

Weng Zhen, a Fujianese immigrant, found work at a Chinese restaurant in Pennsylvania through a Chinatown employment agency, but on the snowy day when he arrived, he says, nobody came to the bus station to meet him, and he almost froze to death.

One Mr. Lin, also from Fujian, says that he went to North Carolina to work in a Chinese restaurant, only to be fired after a day. The manager refused to reimburse him for his travel expenses, and he lost over $200.

A young Chinese woman reports that after a long journey out of state, her crooked new boss decided she was not attractive enough and refused to take her back to the restaurant, reducing her to tears.

Some shady employment agencies go so far as to recommend several workers for the same out-of-state job, letting the employer pick a favorite when the job-seekers arrive. Those rejected have no choice but to make their way back to New York at their own expense.

With economic hard times leading many Chinese restaurants to cut staff, job opportunities are all the more scarce and employment agencies are seeing their incomes fall. But Fujianese community groups remind agencies that they must be honest if they want to do good business, otherwise they will reap what they sow.

Those wishing to lodge complaints should call 311 or the New York Department of Consumer Affairs' Chinese language hotline at 212-487-4488.