CBS reports that Jose Lopez had no idea his wages had been short while he worked on a building for the city of New York until he hailed a taxi cab belonging to Mody Camara.

Mody recognised him as one of the workers they’d been searching for and told him he was going to get a fantastic surprise from the NYC comptroller.

“He told me, ‘Oh Jose, that’s you?’ I said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s me – I was long time looking for you guys!’” Camara said.

Lopez and Camara had worked together a decade ago on a city-funded construction project. They were paid just $60 per day.

But according to prevailing wage laws, their employer was required to pay them wages set by the city comptroller’s office, since they were working on a city project.

Both Lopez sand Camara are immigrants and did not realize they were being taken advantage of.

The subcontractor, Mascon Restoration, was investigated and it was found that they were cheating the workers out of pay.

“They know we’re immigrants and we don’t have our rights, that’s why they do that,” said Camara, who filed a wage settlement in 2012 and used the money to buy his cab.

On Thursday, the immigrant and his three friends, who were also working on the job a decade ago, received checks of $50,000 each.

Lopez, a father of five, said: “I’m going to buy my house — my own house.”

The city knows that other immigrants were taken advantage of and is holding $7,000,000 until the workers are located.