MARIETTA - An undercover agent for the watchdog group Jobs for Georgians has posed as a bricklayer the past three months on the construction of the new Cobb County Superior Courthouse, and told the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday he has evidence that illegal immigrants have been employed and paid in cash by a subcontractor on the project.

Commission Chairman Sam Olens said that the county would take "immediate action" if the allegations of illegal employment prove to be accurate, but added that right now they are only allegations.

Jose Alvarez may have looked like just another bricklayer, but he has been gathering evidence for Jobs for Georgians that he says substantiates the group's suspicions that illegal immigrants are working under the watch of one of the project's subcontractors.

Alvarez, who is also a business agent for the Washington, D.C.-based organization International Bricklayers, said he and another construction worker with Jobs for Georgians, Frank Lozano, began working on the site in November. Posing as bricklayers, they formed relationships with the workers and subcontractors and continued their work into January.

He was told subcontractor Zebra's policy is for workers to show up at the job site in order to obtain work. But Alvarez said he could not get "a straight answer" from Victor Candelaria, a contractor hired by Zebra to oversee workers laying the blocks at the courthouse, about how much his workers were being paid. Alvarez said Candelaria's reluctance to give him answers aroused his suspicions.

After discussions with other workers, Alvarez and Lozano learned they were being paid $10 an hour, as opposed to $18 an hour, which Alvarez said is the normal hourly rate. He said he soon found out there was a reason for the unreasonably low pay.

"I have a recorded conversation with Damian Perez, a bricklayer from Canada with legal status, who told me that he asked Victor when he was first hired whether he needed to present them with his papers, and he was told no. He said all he would need to do is go through a drug screening and the safety training set up by Turner, and that was it," Alvarez said. "So I asked him why everyone was getting paid so low, and he told me Victor would take the checks issued to him by Zebra, cash them, then pay the workers in cash. He told them they were being paid less than usual, but that it was OK because there would be no taxes taken out. I can't say I was surprised, because we knew this was going on not only with Zebra but with others, but it was good to finally get it on tape."

Alvarez and a dozen other members of Jobs for Georgians voiced their concerns during Tuesday morning's Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting. Alvarez provided the commission with invoices that he said show Zebra even cheated Candelaria out of his $9,000 retainer.

Zebra, for its part, said that every precaution was taken to ensure each worker could legally work in Georgia.

"There are absolutely no workers working for us that have not been disclosed, and I don't know where they're getting these allegations from," Zebra Construction President Chip Kessler said. "We were 100 percent compliant, and have been on E-verify since July."

But Kessler also said that Candelaria was taken off of the project on Friday and replaced with another contractor. "He was replaced because he told us he was not enrolled in E-verify," Kessler said.

This means that no workers under Candelaria were checked through E-verify while Zebra employed him, and that Alvarez's estimate that at least 14 illegal workers were employed under the subcontractor could be accurate.

So why was Candelaria hired in the first place with no enrollment in E-verify?

"We didn't ask," Kessler said.

Kessler also said that Candelaria had worked on other projects for the company, and that Zebra employed him through another company but did not know the name of the company. He was not sure whether the workers who were employed by Candelaria have since been checked through the system and subsequently prohibited from working on the project if found to be in the country illegally. The replacement, which Kessler said was not prompted by an e-mail complaint that was filed with the county commissioners on Friday, is following code and that the contractor who replaced Candelaria is enrolled in E-verify.

The leader of the Jobs for Georgians investigation, John Ciancia, said that Atlanta-based general contractor Turner Construction, the site's project manager, could probably argue that it was following its legal obligations because Turner's pay checks were going to subcontractors who passed its E-verify check, such as Zebra, then were handed down to Candelaria, a legal resident. But that does not mean Turner was not aware that illegal immigrants were working on the project, Ciancia said.

"Zebra's bid was a million dollars less than the second lowest bidder, which should have told them something," Ciancia said.

Alvarez agreed. "If you just talked to the workers and walked around the job site, it's obvious," he said.

Turner released a statement arguing that it has followed federal regulations set in place through the E-verify system. Georgia requires that all government contractors use the system to verify that each new worker is legally able to work in the United States.

"Upon hearing of allegations that a subcontractor on the Cobb courthouse project may not be in compliance with their contract and the law, Turner took immediate steps beyond the company's contractual obligations to conduct a review of all subcontractors' use of E-verify to check the employment status of workers on the projects," Turner Public Relations Manager Shannon Eckhert said in the statement. "In addition, Turner officials say they have set up a procedure to check workers' identification when they access the jobsite so that their names can be crosschecked with a verified list of employees. Turner will continue to cooperate closely with the County and to monitor the employment eligibility of all workers on the courthouse project. If it is found that a worker or subcontractor is not in compliance with the law and Turner's policies, then the appropriate action will be taken in cooperation with Cobb County and the authorities."

Olens said the county would investigate the allegations of illegal employment, but added right now they are just that - allegations.

"We certainly don't want any illegal activity happening on one of our projects, so we fully complied with the law and expect Turner and anyone else to do the same," Olens said. "And it's not that we're disagreeing that illegal workers should be pulled from a job site, but it's that we need some evidence that this is going on before we can take any further action."

The county received an e-mail complaint on Friday, and Olens said that Turner responded within hours that all workers had been checked and that the project's standards were being upheld.

"I don't think there's anything illegal going on, and if we get evidence to the contrary, then we'll dig deeper into it," Commissioner Tim Lee said. "We received the complaint last week, went through our protocol, and we feel Turner has met its obligation. Barring any additional evidence to the contrary, there's not much we can do. Just because someone accuses someone else of something doesn't mean that it's actually happening, But if it is, present that evidence to our attorney and we'll take action."

Ciancia said he would hold the county commissioners to their word.

"I plan to present them with whatever they need, tomorrow morning if that's what they want," Ciancia said Tuesday. "But if they become aware of what is going on and don't do anything about it, we will protest and there could be legal action."

Cobb spokesman Robert Quigley said the county attorney expects that the affidavit Turner signed with the county in its contract stating it would comply with E-verify, and other stipulations in the contract, will mean that any civil suits filed will be directed at Turner and Zebra. He and Olens also said it is not yet clear if Turner or Zebra would be fired, should the allegations turn out to be true.

Mike Fredenburg, a retired HVAC worker, Kennesaw resident and former Kennesaw city councilman, spoke during Tuesday's meeting and said he just wants to see local, legal residents getting the jobs that illegal immigrants are now receiving.

"I don't have anything against illegal immigrants as people, but we all have rules and laws that we have to abide by, and those who are following the laws should be given top priority," Fredenberg said. "It isn't unusual for this to happen, but during this historically difficult time for construction workers and with so many legal residents out of a job, it's important that it doesn't happen. That's all we want."