“If successful, the lawsuit, filed in Nashville’s U.S. District Court by the Southern Poverty Law Center on the workers’ behalf, could have broad implications for employers. It would reinforce the idea that labor laws apply to all workers, regardless of their immigration status.”
I hold no sympathy for the employer in this – I believe the employer should be SUED and put out of business for hiring any ILLEGALS (they are NOT *undocumented workers* anymore than a burglar is an undocumented family member).
The fact that the SPLC is involved should tell the story - it is MONEY that is at the core of this action…. money for SPLC. Their contributions must be on the low side again so they need some publicity to turn up the money grubbing machines.
The real danger in this lawsuit is the precedent it will set in law – it will provide legal standing to the ILLEGALS that they really do not have because they are ILLEGALS. It will be another legal means to gain a *right* to be here and to work here in violation of existing law.
Not one of the ILLEGALS involved should be granted any permission to remain in America. In fact those involved should be banned from applying to return to America ever.
I say the employer should be sued and fined for hiring ILLEGALS but the ILLEGALS are lawbreakers and should not be rewarded for breaking American law. And. most of all, SPLC should not gain one RED cent for being involved in this.
When the lawbreaker can sue and be rewarded for breaking the law (like the politicians and banksters) then we have no LAW in America – we have controlled application of dictatorial rule.
Jackie Juntti
WGEN idzrus@earthlink.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081017/NEWS01/81016079
TN cheese processor sued after immigrants walk off job
By JANELL ROSS • Staff Writer • October 17, 2008
A group undocumented workers filed suit in Nashville today against a Manchester cheese factory, claiming they went weeks without pay and were threatened with deportation if they quit or complained.
If successful, the lawsuit, filed in Nashville’s U.S. District Court by the Southern Poverty Law Center on the workers’ behalf, could have broad implications for employers. It would reinforce the idea that labor laws apply to all workers, regardless of their immigration status.
Early last year, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled the parents of an undocumented construction worker killed on the job should be paid workers compensation death benefits.
The suit alleges that Durrett Cheese Sales, its president and several members of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department conspired to violate the labor and human rights of at least 12 workers.
Durrett Cheese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2007. Its president, Greg Durrett, could not be reached for comment today.
According to the suit, Durrett recruited and hired several indigenous Mixteco Mexican workers to slice, package and process cheese for $6 to $6.75 an hour. A supervisor frequently referred to the workers as “stupid Indians” and “donkeys.”
The workers were issued partial paychecks, late paychecks and paychecks that drew on accounts with insufficient funds, according to the suit. Some workers went without pay for more than a month, according to the suit, while non-Latino workers at Durrett did not experience the same paycheck delays, threats or derogatory remarks. A Durrett supervisor also threatened that if the Mexican workers quit, they would not receive any of their pay.
In October 2007, the affected workers refused to leave the company break room and return to work until they received their back pay. When fired by a supervisor, the workers refused to leave.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department arrested the workers and jailed them for trespassing. The area district attorney dropped charges against the workers the following day, but the workers were kept in jail because Durrett Cheese staff “suggested they were undocumented immigrants,” according to a Southern Poverty Law Center press release.
The workers were ultimately interrogated by ICE in Nashville and detained for nine hours before an attorney secured their release. The workers are in the process of petitioning for an immigration status change.
If the suit is successful, the workers could be granted an unspecified amount of back wages, compensatory and punitive damages requested in the suit.
December 12, 2008 at 1:28 am
Hmmm, Things are not going to change are they?
No, probably not !