HOPEDALE, La. (AP) — In the fallout from the BP oil disaster, they're almost invisible: deck hands and other day laborers who get paid in cash, don't receive W2 forms, may not file tax returns and have little or no way of proving they are losing income because of the spill. "We run into them on a daily basis. They're stuck in limbo," Tuan Nguyen, deputy director of the Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corp. in eastern New Orleans, said in a recent interview. Nguyen said he has encountered hundreds of workers, mostly deck hands, who lack the documentation BP needs from claimants seeking a piece of the $20 billion of the oil giant's aid fund. "It's a very cash-involved industry," said Nguyen, whose organization formed after Hurricane Katrina to help the Vietnamese community recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "Some of the boat captains or boat owners, they sell fish on the side of the road or directly to families. They don't have records of that." Stuart Smith, an attorney handling oil-spill lawsuits, said seeking aid can be intimidating, and some cash workers fear that they'll face penalties or prosecution for not paying taxes if they come forward. "Proving that you worked in ...
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