Settlement: O.C. laborers can seek jobs from streets

ASSOCIATED PRESS

11:09 p.m. August 27, 2008

SANTA ANA – A settlement between day laborers and the Orange County sheriff's office calls for authorities to acknowledge workers' rights to seek work while standing on sidewalks, according to attorneys for the laborers.

The settlement was reached last week, but attorneys did not release details until Wednesday. The agreement stems from a federal harassment lawsuit filed last year by about 50 day laborers against the Sheriff's Department, the county and several individuals over a Lake Forest city ordinance that barred workers from soliciting work on street corners. The city later repealed the ordinance and was dropped from the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged deputies violated workers' right to free speech by telling them they couldn't seek work on a street corner. In court papers, deputies said they were responding to residents' complaints that workers were littering and trespassing.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Sheriff's Department agreed that “people have a right to offer themselves for work,â€