May Day Rallies Aim for Immigration Reform [Contra Costa Times] 

Exploiting immigrants: Labor laws need to protect undocumented workers, too [San Jose Mercury News] 

Bills to Protect California Immigrant Workers Introduced [San Jose Mercury News] 

A Pathway to Citizenship Should Create Workplace Protections [Huffington Post]

Five Ways Immigration Reform Will Help American Workers [Washington Post]

Immigration Raises Incomes in America [Slate] 

Palermo Villa Found Not to Violate Labor Protections With Immigration Check  [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] 

Washington, DC—The National Employment Law Project welcomes the Senate’s introduction of bipartisan legislation to reform our nation’s immigration laws.  In the coming days, NELP will analyze the details of this complex and far-reaching proposal and its impact on workers’ rights and low-wage labor markets.  

The centerpiece of the Senate bill is a pathway to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.  A pathway to citizenship that enables undocumented immigrants to live and work out of the shadows will enable millions of workers and their families to overcome one of the greatest barriers to their own economic security and prosperity.  First-class citizenship will allow these workers to contribute fully to their communities and to our nation’s economic recovery.    

Worker protections in the bill must be as strong as possible.  Essential worker protections include whistleblower safeguards that protect workers who challenge labor abuses from retaliation, and equal workplace rights and remedies for all workers, regardless of immigration status.  Future immigrant workers must have the right to change jobs and employers, and the right to apply for a green card.  Such protections will help ensure that our country’s immigration policy supports a robust recovery built on living-wage jobs.   

NELP has concerns with other aspects of the Senate proposal, including the mandatory electronic employment verification system, which may encourage employers to further push workers into abusive “off the books” work in the future.  We also question the impact of point-based “merit” visa system on low-wage immigrant workers and their families, and will examine closely the new W visa program.  Moreover, employment and income requirements for undocumented workers must not provide unrealistic and insurmountable barriers to legal status.

While these and other concerns pose serious questions, the Senate immigration bill is an important and necessary first step to reaching a just and humane immigration policy.  Together with our allies, NELP will work to ensure that the final plan protects workers, strengthens our economy, and helps our nation reach its fullest potential.  

The National Employment Law Project is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts research, education and advocacy on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers.  For more about NELP, visit www.nelp.org.

###

SAN DIEGO - Hotel workers and their allies launched a five-day hunger strike on Friday, April 8 to protest the unfair use of E-verify by the Hilton Mission Valley, amid hotel workers' year-long effort to organize a union. 

The sudden use of E-verify came in late March when a new management company took over the hotel and voluntarily subjected the hotel workers to the system. Hotel workers, clergy and community activists rallied at the launch of the hunger strike on Friday calling the hotel’s plan to fire the nine long-time hotel employees who the system flagged unfair. 

Hotel managers told the nine employees they had until Monday, April 8 or Tuesday, April 9 to fix problems with paperwork or face termination.

"We can't stand by as immigrant workers face firing after being  subjected to the flawed and unfair E-Verify system." said Brigette Browning, President of UNITE-HERE Local 30. "This hunger strike highlights that these workers and their families deserve the same opportunities to work and the same respect as all of San Diego's working families, and the community stands with them and all immigrant workers who face unfair treatment."

Among those joining the hunger strikers to launch the action on Friday were Congressman Scott Peters, State Senator Ben Hueso, San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria, San Diego Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez, Reverend Beth Johnson from the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, and immigrant rights leader Christian Ramirez. Hunger strikers and threatened workers were joined later in the afternoon by incoming San Diego Unified School Superintendent Cindy Marten and SDUSD School Board members Richard Barrera and Marne Foster.

Events and actions will be continuing through 12 p.m. on Tuesday, including visits to the Hilton Mission Valley by Congressman Juan Vargas at 10 a.m. on Saturday to discuss progress on federal immigration reform efforts, a community solidarity rally with Mayor Bob Filner Sunday at 1 p.m., and a candlelight vigil Monday evening at 7 p.m.

Additional updates on events and special guests are being posted via the Twitter hashtag #sandiegonine and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/121946677997953/122749167917704/

Schumer: Gang of 8 Has ‘Substantive Agreement’ on Immigration Issues [Yahoo News]

Senate Group Resolves Key Issues on Immigration Reform: Lawmakers [Reuters]

Sides Reach Broad Agreement on Immigrant Guest Workers [CNN]

Labor, Business Leaders Reach Wage Agreement for Immigrant Workers [LA Times]

Business, Labor Reach Deal on Low-Skilled Worker Visas [USA Today]

AFL-CIO Summary of Future Flow Program [AFL-CIO]

On Thursday, March 21, 2013, the United States District Court in Philadelphia ruled in C.A.T.A et al v. Solis that the Department of Labor can no longer use the flawed methodology for calculating the H-2B prevailing wage that was adopted by the outgoing Bush administration in its waning hours.  Earlier, the C.A.T.A. court had found the prior rule to be unlawfully adopted and ordered the department to adopt a new methodology promptly.  However, in order to avoid a regulatory vacuum, the court had left the Bush rules in place in the interim.  DOL adopted a new rule that more or less uses the mean wage paid to workers in the job classification and area, which would have increased prevailing wages in the H-2B program by an average amount of $4.38 per hour.  Unfortunately, that rule has never gone into effect because of a Congressional rider placed on DOL's appropriation forbidding the use of the new methodology.  DOL has reverted to using the old rules, and expressed no intention or plan to the court as to how it would bring the program into compliance with the H-2B statute.  The court has now ruled that, 30 months after the Bush rule was declared to be unlawful, DOL cannot continue to use the invalid rule.  The court has given the Department of Labor 30 days to come into compliance.

Visas for high-skilled workers could double under bipartisan Senate plan [Washington Post]

Poll Finds Broad Support for Path to Citizenship for Immigrants [NY Times]

How Arizona Cheats Immigration Reform: Charging workers for identity theft [Salon]

El Patrón Es El Ladrón! - The Boss Is The Thief! [The Rebel Press]

President Obama could not have chosen a more capable, more commendable or more committed candidate for our next Secretary of Labor than Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Tom Perez.  Throughout a distinguished career in serving the public interest, Perez has single-mindedly advanced the rights of all Americans to fair treatment and equal opportunity in multiple arenas of public life, including the workplace, our schools, within the criminal justice system and at the ballot box.  At a moment when so many Americans remain anxious about finding and keeping jobs that enable them to provide for today and prepare for tomorrow, Tom Perez will bring the skill and deep experience needed to move the Labor Department front and center in rebuilding an economy that works for all who work in America.  

No one could better guide the Department in fulfilling its mission “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.”

At every intersection in his career, Tom Perez has chosen to serve the public interest and represent working families in his home state of Maryland and across America.  His compassion and commitment exemplify the very best in public service.  We applaud President Obama for this outstanding nomination and eagerly await the confirmation of Tom Perez as the nation’s Secretary of Labor. 

The Right to (Look for) Work [NY Times]

McDonald’s Franchises in Pennsylvania Accused of Exploiting Student Guest Workers [Huffington Post]

New York Wants to Boost Food Manufacturing, but Will Communities Get a Raw Deal? [In These Times]

On Wednesday, March 6th at 10:30 am in Capitol Room 317, legislators, labor leaders and immigrant rights groups will call for stronger protections for California’s immigrant workers. At the press conference, the National Employment Law Center will be releasing a new report, Workers' Rights on ICE: How Immigration Reform Can Stop Retaliation and Advance Labor Rights--California, from that shows California’s immigrant workers are routinely subject to abuse and retaliation from unscrupulous employers.

The press conference precedes a legislative hearing chaired by Assemblymember Roger Hernandez, which will include immigrant workers sharing stories of how they have been retaliated against for speaking out about health and safety violations and unpaid wages. The hearing is an important first step in addressing the widespread problem of immigrant worker exploitation.

WHO: 
Assemblymember Roger Hernandez
Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal
Assemblymember Paul Fong
Eunice Cho, National Employment Law Project
Art Pulaski, California Labor Federation
Gabriella Villareal, California Immigrant Policy Center
Immigrant workers

On Saturday afternoon around 50 immigrant workers and community supporters gathered to celebrate the reopening of the Bay Parkway Community Job Center. The Center, along the water's edge in southern Brooklyn, was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy.  Strong winds moved it over 100 feet from its foundation and left the center structurally damaged.  

As soon as the hurricane winds faded, Bay Parkway workers, both men and women, formed volunteer brigades and were on their way to help the residents of Coney Island and Far Rockaway to assess damage and start cleaning up their homes.  It took nearly four months to replace the former hiring hall, but with community and foundation support, the Workers Justice Project, the organization that manages the center, and workers had it back up and running.

The majority of undocumented people in the United States are working in the agriculture, construction, cleaning, and service industries, and they are among the most vulnerable to wage theft, food insecurity, and poor health and safety conditions.  Hiring sites like the Bay Parkway Community Job Center go a long way to improve these conditions.  Workers are significantly less likely to be hurt or die on the job; they can count on fair wages, health and safety trainings, and job security.  

The reopening of the center brought together supporters from all across New York City.  Gustavo was a founding member who used to come to the center to find work.  Now he is a contractor and only hires workers from the center where he got his start.  The Laborers International Union of North America Local 10 was there to talk about their partnership with workers' centers that allow skilled workers to join the union.  Two local council members, Dominic Recchia and Vincent Gentile, spoke about their commitment to helping the center set up ESL classes.

 It is critical that we keep these workers and their stories in mind during the debate on immigration reform. The Bay Parkway Community Job Center is just one example of communities banding together, working with their neighbors, and organizing for real and just solutions that support working families and the local economy.  Like Bay Parkway, local communities across the country are doing what the Obama administration and Congress cannot seem to figure out: supporting immigrant workers as they support the American economy.

Written by Jessica Acee - Published on IMAGINE2050  

New York—With immigration reform under serious consideration in Congress, a report released Tuesday by the National Employment Law Project exposes how current immigration policies intended to stop employers from hiring undocumented workers have instead allowed unscrupulous employers to evade both immigration and labor laws.

Through nearly two-dozen case studies, the report paints a shocking picture of how employers use immigration enforcement, or the threat of it, to retaliate against workers who seek to exercise their basic workplace rights. In many instances, workers who tried to collect unpaid wages, report safety violations, escape abuse by their employers, or organize in the workplace were detained and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with little recourse for their labor rights.

Former U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis endorsed the findings of the report. “As U.S. labor secretary, my top priority was to protect the labor rights of all workers, including those seeking a path to citizenship,” Solis said. “We must never allow immigration status to be used as a weapon to silence the courageous individuals who stand up against wage theft and other labor abuses. While I’m proud of the protections that the Labor Department has put in place for immigrant workers, there is still more to do. The protections we pioneered at the Labor Department need to be included as part of immigration reform.”

The report release comes just days after The New York Times editorialized that stronger protections against the exploitation and abuse of immigrant workers need to be a bigger part of the immigration reform discussion. “Such protections, essential to any reform plan, would help rid the system of bottom-feeding employers who hire and underpay and otherwise exploit cheap immigrant labor, dragging down wages and workplace standards for everyone,” the Times argued.

“An immigration enforcement scheme designed to prevent the hiring of undocumented workers has instead given unscrupulous employers a potent weapon to deter immigrant workers from asserting their workplace rights and retaliate against those who do so,” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project. “These abuses underscore how important it is that reform of our immigration laws ensures full protection of workers’ exercise of their rights.”

The report, entitled “Workers’ Rights on ICE: How Immigration Reform Can Stop Retaliation and Advance Labor Rights,” draws on 22 case studies from around the country, including California, Ohio, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, and New York, representing a range of industries, including construction, day labor, farm work, restaurant, food service, and food processing. Typical examples of employer abuse of the immigration enforcement system include the following:

• A California employer falsely accuses a day laborer of robbery to avoid paying him wages owed. Police turn him over to immigration enforcement agents anyway.

• An Ohio company, on the eve of an NLRB decision finding it guilty of unfair labor practices, carries out its threat to “take out” union leadership by re-verifying union leaders’ immigration status and work eligibility.

• A Seattle employer threatens workers seeking to recover unpaid wages with deportation, and an immigration arrest follows.

The ramp-up in immigration enforcement in recent years has given unscrupulous employers more tools to use against immigrant workers who assert their labor rights, according to the report. More local police departments have gotten pulled into immigration enforcement, and worksite immigration audits have increased. Although the Obama administration has taken some steps to prevent immigration status–related retaliation—for example, by protecting immigrants who are the victims of crimes in the workplace, exercising prosecutorial discretion in limited cases involving labor disputes, and limiting ICE enforcement actions where labor  investigations are pending—they are not enough.  

“Bad employers have repeatedly misused the immigration enforcement system to gain the upper hand in an already unfair situation,” said Rebecca Smith, an attorney with NELP and a co-author of the report. “In such a climate of fear, no one is willing to stand up and blow the whistle on terrible workplace abuses. It’s a downward spiral that even drags down law-abiding employers, who are forced to compete with illegal practices. In the end, all low-wage workers suffer as a result,” said Smith.

Immigration reform, however, presents new opportunities to protect immigrant workers.

“By enacting a new immigration policy that includes a broad path to citizenship, equal remedies for all workers subjected to illegal treatment at work, a stronger firewall between immigration and labor law enforcement, and immigration protections for workers actively engaged in defending their labor rights, Congress and the White House can ensure that immigrant workers who stand up for their rights are protected,” said NELP attorney Eunice Cho, also a co-author of the report. “Immigration reform, done right, can ensure improved wages and working conditions for all workers,” said Cho.

NELP’s new report, “Workers’ Rights on ICE: How Immigration Reform Can Stop Retaliation and Advance Labor Rights,” is available for download here:  www.nelp.org/ImmigrationRetaliation

The National Employment Law Project is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts research and advocates on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers. For more information about NELP, visit www.nelp.org.

• The new protocol streamlines certification by designating the EEOC General Counsel as a certifying official with authority to issue U visa certifications, instead of requiring additional approval by the EEOC Chair’s office.
• The new protocol provides a procedure for certification requests where more than one individual affected by the same employment practices may be considered together, although sufficient information must be provided to enable the agency to prepare each individual’s certification form.
• The new protocol continues to require that an EEOC attorney conduct an interview with the U visa applicant as part of a factual inquiry and credibility determination required for certification. However, EEOC attorneys may consider alternatives other than an in-person interview.

NELP will coordinate a conference call with EEOC staff to discuss the new protocol in the near future. Please contact Eunice Cho at echo@nelp.org if you are interested in participating.

Fair and carnival companies bring migrant workers to the U.S. on temporary work visas, known as H-2B visas, to build and operate rides, set up games and serve food at concessions stands. The workers travel with the companies from state to state, typically living in filthy and cramped trailers. Taken for a Ride uncovers the following abuses and structural defects in the H-2B temporary worker program:

• unfair recruitment processes;
• wage and hour abuses;
• significant health and safety risks;
• lack of access to workers' compensation;
• limited access to medical care;
• isolated and substandard living conditions; and
• limited access to legal representation and justice in the courts.

José Isabel de Lira, a former fair and carnival worker from Mexico stated, "When I went to work at the fairs, I was paid less than half of what they promised. I was tricked with false promises and on top of that, the housing conditions were terrible. The trailers were infested [with pests] and were not clean." After visiting workers at a fair in Maryland, Student Investigator Xavier E. Albán reflected, "As we met with these workers and they showed us the trailers where they slept, it was obvious that they wanted to tell their stories, but had few opportunities to do so." When workers complain about the low pay, or unsafe and unsanitary conditions, they face retaliation and threats of deportation or blacklisting.

The report provides comprehensive recommendations for change that are particularly timely as Congress debates immigration reform that would likely impact temporary work visa programs. "We urge Congress to include important worker protections in any immigration reform that would prevent exploitation of the most vulnerable in the U.S. workforce," stated Rachel Micah-Jones, CDM's Executive Director. To mitigate these problems, the report recommends that Congress enact retaliation protections for workers who report abuse, extend federally-funded legal services to H-2B workers, close the minimum and overtime wage loophole for amusement industries in federal labor laws, and require that job orders be treated as enforceable contracts. The Department of Labor should forbid employers, recruiters and their agents from charging recruitment fees, conduct inspections of fair employers payroll, and issue rules related to training, breaks and safety equipment to protect the health and safety of fair and carnival workers and the public.

The experiences documented by workers in Taken for a Ride are similar to those of H-2B workers in other industries and demonstrate the structural flaws in the H-2B program, despite attempts to improve the program through recent regulations.

When advocating for a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States--8 million of who are engaged in the workforce, legislative details will matter in determing how many undocumented immigrants will eventually qualify for citizenship. 

The National Employment Law Project supports immigration reform proposals that base eligibility for adjustment of status based on physical presence in the United States, and not on any past or future employment requirements. In particular, such proposals should provide flexible standards for documentary evidence in support of applications for citizenship.  Legislation must include coverage of workers in “contingent” jobs such as day laborers, domestic workers, caregivers, and agricultural workers and those who might have difficulty proving their presence in the United States. Valid evidence should include records received from employers, including pay stubs or time sheets, and records maintained by unions and from membership organizations such as worker centers and religious organizations.

With their publication today of a new report-The American Dream Up for Sale: A Blueprint for Ending International Labor Recruitment Abuse-the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM), Farmworker Justice, Global Workers Justice Alliance, National Employer Law Project, National Guestworker Alliance, Southern Poverty Law Center, and a diverse group of other international and national labor organizations, joined forces to highlight the abuses experienced by internationally recruited workers.

"Abuse is rampant under the current international worker programs and visa categories," said Rachel Micah-Jones, Executive Director of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM).  "Congress can no longer pretend that the problems are limited to certain work programs or visa types."

Internationally recruited workers are employed in a wide range of U.S. industries, from low-wage jobs in agriculture and landscaping, to higher-wage jobs in technology, nursing, and teaching.  In today's report, members of the coalition, formally known as the International Labor Recruitment Working Group, have identified the shortcomings and gaps in the current regulatory and enforcement framework governing international worker programs, while providing important recommendations for reform.

"The very structure of the federal guestworker program lends itself to pervasive worker abuse and the current federal regulations offer few protections that mainly exist on paper," said Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"Today's report makes clear that such abuses are not isolated incidents," AFT President Randi Weingarten said. "The AFT and others in this coalition have outlined a set of core principles for the kind of treatment that any worker in our nation should be able to expect. Ideals such as freedom from discrimination or coercion, access to justice and information, and freedom of movement and association are not reserved for citizens alone. They are universal values for which our country stands, and they must apply to any worker on our soil."

The report is being released on the heels of the unveiling of the White House's plan for immigration reform.  Last week, a bi-partisan group of Senators announced principles for addressing the broken U.S. immigration system, while the House will address the issue at a Judiciary Committee hearing following the group's announcement of their blue print for change.

"We are not willing to accept an immigration bill that leaves internationally recruited workers at the mercy of unscrupulous and unregulated employers," said Ana Avendaño, AFL-CIO.  "Congress should address the existing programmatic shortcomings in these temporary worker programs and take steps to fix them as they make plans to overhaul our nation's immigration laws."

The following organizations produced the report: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM), the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), Department for Professional Employees (DPE), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), Farmworker Justice, Global Workers Justice Alliance, National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), National Employment Law Project (NELP), National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), Safe Horizon, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Solidarity Center, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), UNITE HERE, and Verité.  The following organizations endorse the content of the report: Free the Slaves, Polaris Project and Vital Voices Global Partnership.

"The outrageous practices catalogued in this report cry out for justice and we have an obligation to reform the systems that are allowing them to happen. The American Federation of Teachers is proud to be a part of the coalition that produced today's report, and we stand with all who call for reforms that will break the cycles of exploitation that engulf so many immigrant workers," added President Weingarten.

The conference will examine the complex relationships between food and migration. Food scarcity is not only at the root of much human displacement and migration—the food industry also offers immigrants an entry point into the U.S. economic system and it, simultaneously, confines migrants to low wages and poor, if not unsafe, work conditions. In addition, food allows immigrants to maintain their cultural identity. The conference places issues of immigration and food service work in the context of a broader social justice agenda and explores the cultural role food plays in expressing cultural heritage.

The keynote address will be given by Dolores Huerta, co-founder and first Vice President Emeritus of United Farm Workers of America, on Thursday, April 18 at 6:00pm. The complete conference program and speakers' bios are available online.

The chart is a work in progress, so if you have any suggestions or edits, please contact echo@nelp.org.

Our nation’s leaders are poised to take up immigration reform, at long last.  It’s a move that’s good for our nation, good for our economy, good for the millions of immigrants, regardless of status, who call this country home, and good for all Americans. 

We applaud President Obama and lawmakers from both parties for their leadership in finally putting this momentous issue front and center on the national stage. 

Immigration reform—including a path to citizenship—is badly needed for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live and work in America.  An opportunity for citizenship would allow our nation’s undocumented workers and their families to overcome one of the greatest barriers to economic opportunity in our society.  Reform, done right, will enable these workers to fully contribute to our economic recovery and be wholly integrated into our economy and communities. 

Strong labor protections must be an essential part of reform.  Although the details must still be worked out, any legislation must include protections for all workers who seek to exercise their workplace rights, without fear of retaliation and regardless of their status, now and in the future.  As long as unscrupulous employers can exploit immigrant workers with impunity, employment protections and economic security will continue to be compromised for all workers.

A pathway to citizenship should not be contingent upon the implementation of still-stricter immigration enforcement measures—resources dedicated to enforcement are already at an all-time high.  Nor should one’s work history or unemployment be used to disqualify people from eligibility.  Immigration reform must also not be used as an opportunity to mandate that all employers run every single hire through a flawed and unreliable immigration status database, at the risk of endangering the economic and civil rights of workers and employers alike. 

We look forward to working with policymakers and allies to shape a just and humane immigration policy that fortifies our economy and our communities and lives up to the highest ideals and promise of our nation. 

The National Employment Law Project is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts research, education and advocacy on issues affecting low-wage and unemployed workers.  For more about NELP, visit www.nelp.org.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) announced that Filipina immigrant worker Elizabeth Ballesteros, represented by AALDEF’s Anti-Trafficking Initiative, has been awarded $1.2 million in damages in a human trafficking civil suit against Colonel Arif Mohamed Saeed Mohamed Al-Ali, a former student at the U.S. Naval War College's International Program from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The $1.2 million judgment reflects the suffering and emotional toll human trafficking has on its victims,” said Ivy O. Suriyopas of AALDEF’s Anti-Trafficking Initiative. “This is a victory that we hope will encourage policy makers to recognize the severity of all forms of trafficking within the borders of the United States.”

Ballesteros arrived in Rhode Island from the UAE in 2010 to work for Al-Ali, his wife Samah Alharmoodi, and their children. For three months, Al-Ali subjected her to involuntary servitude, forced labor, peonage, debt bondage, and slavery as a domestic worker in their home. He did not allow her a single day off work, forbade her from speaking to anyone outside the household, withheld her passport, and sent only occasional wages in dirham currency to her family in the Philippines. Ultimately Ballesteros was able to escape and obtain representation from AALDEF's Anti-Trafficking Initiative.

Judge McConnell ordered Al-Ali to pay Ballesteros $10,000 per day for each of the 84 days that he found that Ballesteros was imprisoned and subject to emotional abuse in a damages hearing on Wednesday. However, in early 2012, Al-Ali’s former attorney stated that Al-Ali returned to the UAE because he did not want to spend any more money on the lawsuit and does not have any known assets in Rhode Island. Al-Ali has not appeared to defend himself in court since early 2012.

“Ms. Ballesteros finally had the opportunity to give unfettered testimony in a court of law,” said Suriyopas. “The judge recognized the ‘outrageous, illegal, and inhumane conduct’ she suffered at the hands of the defendant. Her experience as an immigrant domestic worker is all too common, and we are committed to helping her recover and seek justice.”

Samuel Bodurtha, an associate at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Rhode Island, is serving as pro-bono co-counsel on this case.

A jury ordered a labor recruiting firm and its owner Monday to pay $4.5 million to 350 Filipino teachers they lured to teach in Louisiana public schools and forced into exploitive contracts after arriving in the United States through the federal guestworker program.

Universal Placement International of Los Angeles and its owner and president, Lourdes Navarro, were ordered to pay the damages following a two-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.

“The jury sent a clear message that exploitive and abusive business practices involving federal guestworkers will not be tolerated,” said SPLC Legal Director Mary Bauer. “This decision puts unscrupulous recruitment agencies on notice that human beings – regardless of citizenship status – cannot be forced into contracts that require them to pay illegal fees.”

The verdict came in a federal class action lawsuit, Nunag Tanedo v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, brought on behalf of the teachers in August 2010. The teachers are represented by the SPLC, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP.

The teachers began arriving in the United States in 2007 as part of the H-1B guestworker program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. H-1B visas permit foreign nationals with special skills to work in the United States for up to six years. Most teachers paid the placement service about $16,000 – several times the average household income in the Philippines – to obtain their jobs.

Nearly all the teachers had to borrow money to pay the recruiting fees. The recruiters referred the teachers to private lenders who charged 3 to 5 percent interest per month. Teachers were forced to pay these exorbitant fees because they had already made substantial investments that would not be returned. The recruiters confiscated their passports and visas until they paid.

“This groundbreaking verdict affirms the principle that all teachers working in our public schools must be treated fairly, regardless of what country they may come from,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “The outrageous abuses provide dramatic examples of the extreme exploitation that can occur, even here in the United States, when there is no proper oversight of the professional recruitment industry. The practices involved in this case – labor contracts signed under duress and other arrangements reminiscent of indentured servitude – are things that should have no place in 21st-century America.”

In addition to paying upfront fees, the teachers were forced to sign away an additional 10 percent of the salaries they would earn during their second year of teaching. Teachers who resisted signing the contracts were threatened with being sent home and losing the thousands of dollars they had already paid. The court declared those contracts illegal and unenforceable. “We are very pleased with the verdict in this case and proud to have stood by these brave teachers as they finally obtained justice,” said Dennis Auerbach, lead attorney on the case from Covington and Burling.

Hispanic  Workers Were Singled Out for Harassment, Agency Charged

DALLAS - Air Express International, USA, Inc. and Danzas  Corporation, doing business as DHL Global Forwarding, will pay $201,000  to nine employees and provide other significant relief to settle a national  origin hostile environment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment  Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The  settlement, announced today, resolves the EEOC's and Plaintiff-Intervenor  Carlos Villanueva's claims against DHL Global.   The EEOC charged DHL Global with subjecting a class of Hispanic employees to national origin  discrimination.  The EEOC's suit also  resolved a retaliation claim by one non-Hispanic employee who was allegedly  fired for a brief time after he reported the treatment of Hispanic employees.

According to the EEOC's suit,  Case No. 3:11-cv-02581 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of  Texas, Dallas Division, Hispanic employees at DHL's Dallas warehouse were  constantly subjected to taunts and derogatory names such as "wetback,"  "beaner," "stupid Mexican" and "Puerto Rican b---h".   According to the EEOC, Hispanic workers, who  included persons of Mexican, Salvadoran and Puerto Rican heritage, were often  ridiculed by DHL personnel with demeaning slurs which included referring to the  Salvadoran worker as a "salvatrucha," a term referring to a gangster.  Other workers were identified with derogatory  stereotypes by being told they should be outside the facility "mowing the  grass" or that their "homies" were on a television show about prison.  The EEOC further asserts that company  supervisors made harsh admonitions to bilingual employees about use of their  Spanish language on the job.  The agency  asserts that these admonitions were motivated by prejudice, unnecessary and  unrelated to the effective performance of the job duties.

The EEOC complained that DHL  Global officials ignored the complaints of employees even after the  discriminatory conduct was reported to management.  The EEOC's suit also alleged that DHL Global  retaliated against Troy Petty, a union steward, by firing him after he reported  the mistreatment of Hispanic employees to DHL officials on numerous occasions.  Petty was ultimately returned to work and  continues to be employed with the other affected employees.

"Intimidation and ridicule  based on a worker's ethnicity isn't just dehumanizing, it's un-American," said  EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Joel Clark.   "Employers must respond immediately to the multiple reports of  harassment and eliminate the problems so as not to permit an atmosphere of  contempt and mockery."

National origin discrimination in  the workplace, including national origin harassment, and retaliation for  complaining about it, violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to  reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. 

Robert A. Canino, regional attorney  for the EEOC's Dallas District Office, said, "Bullying Hispanic workers for  speaking a language other than English is a distinct form of discrimination,  which, when coupled with ethnic slurs, is clearly motivated by prejudice and  national origin animus.  Sometimes job  discrimination isn't just about hiring, firing or promotion; it's about an  employer promoting disharmony and disrespect through an unhealthy work  environment."

The three-year consent decree  settling the case, signed by Judge Sam A. Lindsay on Nov. 30, provides for a  permanent injunction against DHL Global that prohibits the company from further  discriminating against any employee on the basis of national origin, harassing  any employee on the basis of national origin or retaliating in any way against  any person because of opposition to any practice declared unlawful by Title  VII.  DHL Global will pay $201,000 in  monetary relief and develop strong policies to respond to reports of national  origin discrimination.  In addition, DHL  Global will conduct annual anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training,  which will include instruction on the prevention of  national origin harassment in the workplace.  The training will also advise employees of the  consequences imposed for violating federal anti-discrimination law.  Each new hire will be provided a copy of DHL  Global's non-discrimination policy, and the company will provide  copies of its anti-harassment policies in both English and Spanish to its  employees. 

As part of the settlement,  EEOC will monitor compliance with the consent decree.  DHL will provide EEOC a log of all employee  complaints alleging national origin discrimination or  retaliation.  DHL also agreed to  impose discipline -- up to and including termination, suspension without pay or  demotion upon anyone found to have engaged in national origin discrimination.

Janet V. Elizondo, director  of the EEOC's Dallas District Office, said, "Employers should not characterize  persons of various Hispanic national origins as though they are all likely to  be non-citizens. Subjecting employees to personal and degrading attacks based  on their ethnicity, heritage or culture does not make for good business.  We are very pleased with the resolution in  this case, which is forward-looking and allows these men to continue in their  jobs free of insults and intimidation."

The Mexican National Administrative Office (NAO) issued an opinion in response to petitions filed by U.S. and Mexican workers' rights advocates for violations of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC).  In its decision, the NAO agreed that apparent violations had occurred denying workers protection under the NAALC.  The opinion calls on the Mexican Department of Labor to meet and confer with U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to examine what is being done to guarantee H-2 workers' rights.  Rachel Micah-Jones, Executive Director of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., (CDM), stated, "This opinion is groundbreaking and comes at an incredibly important time - on the heels of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's visit last week with President Obama, and the renewed bipartisan interest in addressing immigration reform."

The petition by CDM, former migrant workers, and a binational coalition of workers' rights advocates was filed on behalf of traveling fair and carnival workers who were recruited to work in the United States on temporary H-2B visas. The petition alleged that the United States is in violation of the NAALC because the United States routinely has allowed companies to pay H-2B workers less than the minimum hourly wage and has denied them overtime and reimbursement for travel, visa and recruitment costs.  In addition, the petition stated that workers face multiple barriers in asserting their rights or enforcing the existing worker protection laws, in violation of the NAALC.

CDM and copetitioners filed the original petition on September 19, 2011, along with a supplemental memorandum that was filed on August 16, 2012.  The NAO's opinion was in response to three separate petitions filed under the NAALC in 2003, 2005 and 2011. The 2003 petition raised issues about the treatment of agricultural workers in North Carolina.  In 2005 human rights organizations in the United States and Mexico joined 17 forestry workers to complain that temporary workers admitted under the H-2B program do not have adequate access to U.S. courts to address grievances as called for under the NAALC.

LONG BEACH, Calif. Eighteen hotel employees reached a $130,000 settlement with HEI Hotels and Resorts over denial of meal and rest breaks required by California law. The settlement arose from claims filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement by employees of the Hilton Long Beach and Executive Meeting Center, owned and managed by HEI.

In hearings before the Labor Commissioner, workers described facing direct pressure from supervisors to work through meals and to skip rest breaks to keep up with increasingly heavy workloads. Some employees suffered injuries due to the unremitting nature of their work. Employees in the hotel’s kitchen, restaurant, room service, banquet services and housekeeping departments stepped forward to participate in the legal action. Most of the workers are “back of the house” monolingual Spanish speakers.

Under California law, employers must establish practices that do not discourage workers from exercising their right to full 30-minute meal periods and 10-minute rest breaks.

The workers, current and former Long Beach Hilton employees, were supported in their efforts by UNITE HERE Local 11 and represented by the UC Irvine School of Law-Immigrant Rights Clinic and Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center.

“After about 11 years of almost never taking rest breaks, I am thrilled we are finally seeing justice,” said Jose Landino, a cook at the Long Beach hotel. “The money I am receiving from this settlement will be helpful as the holidays approach, but above all I feel proud that we stood up and demanded the HEI Hilton Long Beach Hotel respect us and the law.”

Landino won about $8,400 from the settlement.

“Like many at the hotel, I worked through my breaks for years while rushing from room to room changing beds and scrubbing floors,” said Maria Patlan, a Hilton housekeeper. “I hope this money will help teach the Hilton Long Beach a lesson in how to treat people like me.”

“Through persuasive testimony and painstaking analysis of time records, workers, law students, and public interest lawyers overcame the odds in a challenging area of the law. They showed that groups of employees with dedicated legal support can hold employers accountable for worsening conditions of work in the low-wage sector,” said Sameer Ashar, Director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at UC Irvine School of Law.