 |
|
|
U.S. EEOC et al. v. Gargiulo, Inc.
filed 09/25/2005
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
The lawsuit alleged five Haitian women working at Gargiulo Inc.'s tomato packinghouse in Immokalee were subjected to repeated, unwelcome sexual advances by their supervisor and then faced retaliation after they complained. The retaliation included the firing of three of the women.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
CATA v. Chao
filed 01/18/2009
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
New regulations for the nation's H-2B guestworker program threatened to weaken worker protections and make it easier to replace U.S. workers with temporary foreign labor.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Daniel Castellanos-Contreras, et al. v. Decatur Hotels, LLC et al.
filed 08/16/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
H-2B workers were brought to the U.S. to work in defendant's New Orleans hotels. Workers have not been compensated as promised, and U.S. workers are available to perform needed duties.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
David, et al. v. Signal International LLC
filed 03/10/2008
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Hundreds of guestworkers from India, lured by false promises of permanent U.S. residency, paid tens of thousands of dollars each to obtain temporary jobs at Gulf Coast shipyards only to find themselves forced into involuntary servitude and living in overcrowded, guarded labor camps, according to a class action lawsuit.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Escolastico De Leon-Granados v. Eller and Sons, Inc.
filed 06/06/2005
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Class action lawsuit against forestry company for violations of minimum wage and overtime protections, and for other violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Federico Salinas-Rodriguez v. Alpha Services, Inc.
filed 04/14/2005
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Class action lawsuit against forestry company for violations of minimum wage and overtime protections, and for other violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Fredi Garcia, et al. v. Audubon Communities Management, LLC, et al.
filed 03/17/2008
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Immigrant workers hired to repair storm-damaged apartments in New Orleans were routinely cheated out of wages and endured forced labor while living in crowded and dilapidated employer-provided housing. This federal lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, together with the Pro Bono Project and the National Employment Law Project, alleges the employers violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Victims of Trafficking Protection Act.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Gonzalez Machado v. Ashcroft
filed 02/19/2002
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Each year, thousands of immigrant children are detained and deported. Alone, unable to speak English, and without lawyers, they wait in detention centers to learn their fate. The Center filed a groundbreaking lawsuit to establish their right to legal representation, but the case was dismissed. The district court ruled that children do not have a legal right to an attorney during removal proceedings.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Hector Luna, et al. v. Del Monte Fresh Produce (Southeast), Inc., et al.
filed 04/21/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
The class action was filed by the Center's Immigrant Justice Project (IJP) on behalf of migrant farmworkers who were underpaid while working in south Georgia for subsidiaries of the food giant Del Monte.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Hugo Martin Recinos-Recinos, et al. v. Express Forestry Inc., et al.
filed 04/07/2005
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Class action lawsuit against forestry company for violations of minimum wage and overtime protections and for other violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
In re: Linda Cano
filed 03/29/2004
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Linda Barrera Cano, 11, was taken from her mother, Felipa Barrera, and placed in foster care after her immigrant mother was ordered to learn English in six months or risk losing her daughter.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Juana Montano-Pérez, et al. v. Durrett Cheese Sales, Inc.
filed 10/16/2008
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
A dozen Latino workers at a Tennessee cheese factory went weeks without pay and endured an abusive work environment before demanding paychecks from an employer, who then had them arrested, jailed and threatened with deportation. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit charging the company, its president and members of the local sheriff’s department with conspiring to violate the rights of the workers.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Mancha v. ICE
filed 11/01/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Federal immigration agents conducted illegal searches and relied on racial and ethnic profiling while carrying out a massive series of raids, according to this federal lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Navarrete-Cruz v. LVI Environmental Services of New Orleans, Inc., et al.
filed 02/01/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
LVI used a subcontractor system to avoid paying workers the wages owed to them. One of the large subcontractors used by LVI, defendant D&L, Environmental, Inc., failed to pay many of its migrant workers anything for much of their labor.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Rodrigues et al. v. Belfor USA Group Inc.
filed 02/01/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Belfor settled with the Center in September 2006, agreeing to reimburse unpaid overtime wages and take measures to ensure the company and their subcontractors pay all future workers according to FLSA.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Rosalino Perez-Benites et al. v. Candy Brand LLC et al.
filed 06/07/2007
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Brought on behalf of about 2,700 Mexican migrant workers who harvested and packed tomatoes and performed other agricultural work, this lawsuit alleges that Candy Brand failed to pay federally mandated overtime wages for work in its packing sheds and the prevailing wage for work in the fields. The company also refused to reimburse workers for the exorbitant travel, visa and other hiring fees, according to the lawsuit.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Rosiles-Perez, et al. v. Superior Forestry Service Inc., et al.
filed 01/25/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Class action lawsuit against Superior Forestry for violations of minimum wage and overtime protections and for other violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Sandoval v. Alexander
filed 12/31/1996
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Prior to a Center suit, Alabama immigrants seeking to obtain their state driver's license were turned away or asked to complete the English-only tests. Although the case was ultimately lost on appeal, due to the Center's lawsuit Alabama now offers the driver's license test in eight foreign languages.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Secretary of Labor v. Gold Kist
filed 02/09/2006
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Despite OSHA’s Aug.14 order to correct serious and repeat violations at the Gold Kist poultry-processing facility in Russellville, Ala., the company still refuses to accept responsibility and clean up its act. The company is appealing the $143,000 in fines and has even blamed violations on workers.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
State of Alabama v. Victor Marquez
filed 05/14/2008
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
Victor Marquez was traveling to his hometown in Querétero, Mexico, to pay for his new home only to have the money seized by police who alleged it was drug money. During the May 5, 2008, traffic stop in Loxley, Ala., a police officer confiscated more than $19,000 from Marquez even though he earned a majority of the money by working the bean harvest in south Florida. Marquez was not charged. The Southern Poverty Law Center has taken legal action seeking the return of the money.
» View Case File |
|
|
|
Telleria v. Cooley
filed 12/31/1996
Agenda area: Immigrant Rights
An Alabama tax assessor who used racial slurs denied tax exemptions to non-English speaking immigrant homeowners, and forced them to pay double the normal taxes. The Center filed suit, ending this discriminatory policy and securing reimbursements.
» View Case File |
|
