Why immigrant employees should fight for their rights
IN December, just a few days before International Migrants Day, a federal jury ruled that a Los Angeles-based recruitment agency, Universal Placement International (“UPI”), and its owner, Lourdes Navarro, must pay $4.5 million to 350 Filipino teachers who were forced into exploitative employment contracts with UPI.
The jurors found that UPI failed to disclose the fees to the 350 teachers who were recruited for $40,000-a-year jobs in Louisiana. The teachers arrived in the US between 2007 and 2009 under a federal program that grants worker permits to foreigners with special skills.
In 2010, a class action was filed on behalf of the Filipino teachers. The lawsuit alleged that UPI recruiters charged the teachers an immediate fee of $5,000, in violation of regulations and laws governing the visa process and employment contractors. When visas were issued, the recruiters then announced that the teachers would be charged for airfare to the US and have to pay an additional fee equivalent to three months’ salary at their teaching jobs in the US Before ever leaving the Philippines, each teacher had to pay a total of about $16,000 to UPI. Since that amount was several times the average household income in the Philippines, most of the teachers were forced to borrow money. The recruiters referred them to two private lenders that charged 3-to-5 percent monthly interest.
The teachers were then forced to sign contracts that obligated them to pay more fees and required them to pay 10 percent of their salary for 24 months to UPI. Teachers who objected to the fees and other charges were threatened with revocation of visas, baseless lawsuits, and termination or non-renewal of their teaching contracts. In some cases, the teachers’ passports and visas were confiscated to ensure the fees would be paid.
In the lawsuit, UPI was accused of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law which went into effect in 2000 to address the issue of human trafficking. After a two-week trial, jurors rejected the human trafficking arguments but found the recruiting agency had negligently misrepresented the fees to the teachers and it had violated California laws governing employment agencies and unfair business acts.
What immigrant employees can do to fight back
The Filipino teachers’ victory is a triumph for all migrant workers. Many workers, migrant or not, are exploited by recruiters and employers. The abuse range from unpaid overtime, missed meal breaks, misclassification, minimum wage violations, unlawful deductions, harassment, and discrimination.
Immigrant employees who are unfairly treated in their wages and work hours may be concerned about raising these violations due to their immigration status. Others may fear retaliation from their employer.
However, these concerns can be addressed by consulting with experienced employment attorneys. Our firm, for instance, welcomes inquiries at no cost to employees. Employee communications are treated as confidential. Once the facts are known, various strategies can be pursued by knowledgeable counsel to stop these employer violations and protect the employees’ rights.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully obtained significant results, including several million dollar recoveries for consumers against insurance companies and big business. He is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum—a prestigious group of trial lawyers whose membership is limited to those who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy. He has been featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements for his professional accomplishments and recipient of numerous awards from community and media organizations. His litigation practice concentrates in the following areas: serious personal injuries, wrongful death, insurance claims, unfair business practices, wage and hour (overtime) litigation. You can visit his website at www.joesayas law.com or contact his office by telephone at (818) 291-0088.