THIS is a very common scenario that usually starts with good intentions from both sides.
Many Pinoys from the Philippines come to America as tourists, secretly hoping to find lucrative job opportunities that seem elusive in the motherland.
Some will find a kababayan who runs a business in America and will use all possible connections to be hired for almost any job possible. After all, this opportunity carries with it an employment petition to become a legal permanent resident in the US, and eventually, a US citizen.
However, as much as these Pinoy employers want to help kababayans, the cost of petitioning for a foreign worker is high, especially since there are millions of unemployed US citizens in this economy.
Because of this impasse, the prospective employee offers to help his potential employer minimize costs by offering to shoulder the cost of immigration application himself and by agreeing to do more work than what is required — just to achieve his American Dream.
Seems like a win-win situation at the onset, but in the end — when the “honeymoon phase” in their employer-employee relationship is over and things do not turn out as expected, the rule of law will have to prevail.
Who is the abused and who is the abuser? Who is at fault from a legal and moral standpoint?
Those are the questions in the case of kababayan Lee Javier vs his former Pinay employer, Marissa Teves Beck, as reported by our New York Correspondent Don Tagala on Balitang America.
Javier is physical therapy aide who sued his former employer, Beck for wage theft, charging illegal immigration fees, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations, violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and other state and local law violations charges.
As Balitang America reported, Beck is known in the Filipino community for her restaurants and health care companies.
“My rights were violated. I got threats, when I told her I will sue her, she kept on threatening me,” Javier said.
“This case is about a very sophisticated, wealthy recruiter who’s taking advantage of a very hardworking, innocent Filipino worker,” Javier’s lawyer, Atty. John Howley said.
Javier came to the United States with a visitor’s visa in 2008, hoping to find a job as a physical therapist. He then came in contact with Beck’s trusted employee, Violy Morales with hopes of being hired.
“Tinawagan ko si Tita Marissa, sabi ko yung kaklase nung anak ko naghahanap ng trabaho, PT siya,” Morales recounted.
“Noong una very demanding nga siya pati sa pamasahe, sabi ko gumawa ka naman ng paraan diyan.”
Without a US license to work as a physical therapist in New York, Javier changed his status to an F-1 (Foreign Student Visa) with Beck’s help, in order to stay in the US.
Javier said he was allegedly forced to work as a waiter, dishwasher and delivery boy for one of Beck’s restaurants and paid $9 an hour in order to pay for school.
After Javier allegedly paid about $3,500 in immigration fees, Beck then petitioned him for an H1-B (Temporary Worker’s Visa) as a physical therapy rehab manager through one of her healthcare companies.
But as Don Tagala reported, the Immigration and Nationality Act requires employers to pay all the fees associated with H1-B applications. And instead of getting the promised $35.53/hour, Javier was allegedly only paid $15/hour, according to the complaint filed.
Javier also alleges that he never got paid for overtime work at Beck’s restaurants and as a therapy aide.
“They didn’t get his H1-B Visa right away, they made him pay for school that was really worthless, that was really a sham just to get the student visa,” Howley said.
“They lied to Social Security. They told Social Security that he was going to work as a clerk in their office for 20 hours a week but they knew full well that they were going to place him as a PT or a PT Aide,” he added.
“Paano siya mag-aano ng PT eh hindi pa siya licensed? For the meantime para nga mabuhay sila pati yung tirahan dun, dun siya nakatira. Kaya suwerte nga sila lalo na’t tourist lang naman sila di ba?,” Morales said.
Javier is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as reasonable attorney’s fees, the amount of which is to be determined during the trial.
Javier filed the complaint in May, but it was only last week when Beck’s counsel filed a request for an extension to respond to the complaint.
Beck declined Balitang America’s request for an on-camera interview. In a handwritten note, she denied all the charges against her and her companies, saying they are frivolous and baseless.
Don Tagala said on Balitang America that Beck has until the end of the month to respond to Javier’s allegations, while an initial pre-trial conference has been scheduled on August 9 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse in Manhattan.
Under US immigration laws, a foreign national could not enter the US to work if what he carries is a visitor’s visa.
Any employment petition filed when one has just entered the country would then be denied because it would show that he really planned to come to the US to work and not for tourism.
Most visitors’ visas would only allow tourists to stay in the US for up to six months.
Based on the report, it seemed Beck did Javier a favor by helping him change his visitor’s visa to a student visa so he could stay in the country beyond the six-month period, be able to study and eventually practice his profession in the US.
It is clear that Beck was under no obligation to hire Javier. She just gave him the chance through the prodding of her trusted employee Morales, who is also a family friend of Javier.
Javier couldn’t have been hired as a PT because he was not licensed yet to practice his profession. With the tight job market in the US, he was fortunate to be hired by Beck to work as waiter, dishwasher and delivery boy on minimum wage. He was even given free housing in the beginning.
But what Beck would have to explain in court was if she compensated Javier equitably according to labor laws. She would also have to prove that she did not violate any immigration laws in petitioning Javier, no matter how noble her intentions might have been.
Abangan.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
