Several day laborers claim they were cheated out of payment for work done through a subcontractor for Verizon. 

Day laborers from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia rallied together at the Verizon D.C. headquarters Tuesday claiming they were not paid by the company's contractors and sub-contractors for ditches they dug to install Verizon's FIOS fiber-optic cables.

"We're here today to demand that Verizon pay us," said Nerbin Rodriguez.

Rodriquez, an immigrant from El Salvador, says a Verizon sub-contractor owes him for two months of work, all 10-hour days. "We have the right to recover our money for the work that we've performed," he said.

"Verizon needs to tell the subcontractors to quit cheating the people out of their money in this way," said Carlos Ortiz..

"We certainly don't agree that anyone should do a hard day's work and not get paid for it," said Sandra Arnette with Verizon.

Verizon says they promise to investigate but says it's the responsibility of the contractor or sub-contractor and not Verizon to pay the workers.

When ABC 7 reporter Andrea McCarren tried to ask one of the day laborers protesting if they were in the country illegally or if the subcontractors were hiring illegally, she was interrupted by a CASA de Maryland lawyer. They said McCarren couldn't ask the question.  

"We would hope that people are hiring workers that are documented, that can actually do the work and they're not doing it illegally," said Arnette. 

Some of the laborers allege they haven't been paid for jobs completed as far back as three years ago. Some workers at the demonstration actually won judgments in federal court against Verizon sub-contractors, totaling more than $200,000.