Thread: Illegal immigrants sue Café Express

Please let me know if this is a duplicate - I didn't find it when I did a search.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/ ... ily20.html
Illegal immigrants sue Café Express
Houston Business Journal - September 20, 2006
by Jaime S. Jordan
Dallas Business Journal
Illegal immigrants who worked at Café Express in Houston and two other cities in Texas have sued the chain and Houston law firm Boyar & Miller P.C. for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and other allegations related to the filing of employment certification paperwork.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Dallas Country District Court, Boyar & Miller and Café Express, a unit of Wendy's International Inc., missed a 2001 deadline to file paperwork that could have allowed the illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. Wendy's was also named in the suit.


The nearly 100 undocumented employees involved in the action were allegedly fired because they lacked permanent resident status, according to the suit filed Friday when the employees were dismissed. The suit involves illegal immigrants who worked at Café Express locations in the Dallas, Houston and Austin metropolitan areas, said Stan Broome of Howie, Broome & Bobo LLP, the law firm representing the workers.

A spokesman for Wendy's did not immediately return a call for comment. A spokesman for Boyar & Miller was not immediately available for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Café Express established a sponsorship program with the Immigration and Naturalization Service Office in which the restaurant and the law firm would complete and file citizenship applications for the employees. In return the company would deduct $25 from the employee's weekly paychecks to cover legal expenses.

Café Express sent a letter to lead plaintiff Jamie Chavez, who worked at a Dallas-area location, and the other immigrants in July, saying their applications could not be successfully completed, the lawsuit stated. They also were told that unless they could prove their applications had been submitted on their own by April 30, 2001, they would be fired on Sept. 15, according to court documents.

The lawsuit claims the workers did not know until they received the letters this year that their applications were not submitted in 2001. However, the $25 a week continued to be deducted from their checks for several years following the deadline, according to court documents.

The illegal immigrants are seeking damages for the money that was taken out of their checks, as well as lifetime wages and legal fees. The lawsuit also calls for special damages because the workers will not qualify as permanent U.S. residents, preventing them from becoming U.S. citizens.

This is ridiculous. How could these illegals get residency working at a coffee shop. Under NAFTA it cannot happen. These people obviously didn't understand what was happening or someone took advantage of them. I hope they loose and go back home whining on the entire trip back.

If they are so poor and have it so rough, how can they be involved with all these lawsuits? Sheesh.

Don't feel sorry for them! Shouldn't be here in the first place!

Emailing Wendy's to tell them I will be a strong supporter of their company, so long as they keep this up!

AmericanElizabeth. I love it! Let's all tell our friends and co-workers that they do not hire or support illegals. It will be interesting to see how much stocks go up if their sales increase.
As for the lawsuit, there are many lawyers who are trying to make a name for themselves and make it in the big league. Then what scares me is the fact that they mat use legal aid layers for their lawsuit.

Originally Posted by swatchick

AmericanElizabeth. I love it! Let's all tell our friends and co-workers that they do not hire or support illegals. It will be interesting to see how much stocks go up if their sales increase.
As for the lawsuit, there are many lawyers who are trying to make a name for themselves and make it in the big league. Then what scares me is the fact that they mat use legal aid layers for their lawsuit.

Remember that they are a Franchise which means that letting ILLEGALS go could very well be an independent decision made by the "owner of Franchise."

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I thought that the majority of franchises have policies and procedures that each owner needs to follow. It used to be that way when I worked at McDonalds years ago while in high school and Home Depot currently works the same way.

Wendy's and Cafe Express say the number of immigrants affected statewide is 22 — 16 who were fired, and six who left on their own after hearing the news.

So the ambulance chasers found themselves some more illegals to make a class action suite so more attornies could get fat.

If Wendy's hired an attorney to handle the paperwork, that is where their liability ends. Will an attorney sue and attorney? Is that unethical? Well, maybe not for attorneys.

Dixie