Lawsuit: Howard Industries discriminated
Lawsuit: Howard Industries discriminated
Women, who aren't Latino, say they were hired only after raids
11:49 PM, Feb. 25, 2011
Written by
Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
One day after Howard Industries Inc. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine for violating immigration laws, four women filed suit against the company accusing it of discriminating against them because they aren't Latino.
Veronica Cook, Yolanda Phelps, Charlyn Dozier and Seleatha McGee, all African American, said they repeatedly applied for employment at Howard Industries, but were only hired after the company was raided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Aug. 25, 2008, 592 illegal workers were arrested at the electrical transformer plant in Laurel in the biggest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history.
"We want Howard Industries to pay for the blatant discrimination it allowed to exist in this plant," the women's attorney, Lisa Ross, said Friday after the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg.
In the same court on Thursday, Howard Industries pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.
Its former human resources manager, Jose Humberto Gonzalez, had pleaded guilty in December 2009 to conspiracy and admitted he hired hundreds of people whom he knew were in the country illegally. Gonzalez, whose sentencing was delayed several times, now will be sentenced Thursday in Hattiesburg federal court. His sentencing date was set Friday.
The Clarion-Ledger attempted to reach officials at the Laurel plant on Friday. A female office worker said she was going to pass along the newspaper's request for a comment and she would have someone call. But by late Friday, no one had called.
Frank Trapp, an attorney for Howard Industries in the criminal case, said Friday he couldn't comment about the suit, but said he was surprised to hear of it.
Ross said she will ask the court to certify the lawsuit as class-action for all those denied employment allegedly because of their race.
"As early as August 2000, Howard Industries devised, implemented, carried out and controlled an employment policy whereby Latino job applicants, all or nearly all being undocumented Mexican immigrants, were given preferential treatment in hiring at Howard Industries' transformer manufacturing facility in Laurel," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop what it says is the illegal practice. Also, the lawsuit asked for unspecified damages.
"This lawsuit isn't just for African Americans, it's also for whites who were discriminated against," Ross said.
Despite the timing of the lawsuit, Ross said the lawsuit was in the works before Howard Industries' guilty plea.
As of Friday, three of the women were still employed with the company, with two of them from Jones County and the other from Jasper County. Dozier has moved out of state, Ross said.
Most of those arrested in the 2008 raid were deported, though a few were convicted on identity theft charges for using fraudulent documents and providing fake papers to other workers.
Those detained in the raid came from countries including Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
Up until the guilty plea Thursday, Howard Industries had repeatedly denied knowing that illegal immigrants worked at the plant. The $2.5 million fine is more than the usual fine for a company pleading guilty under the federal conspiracy statute. A corporation usually is subject to a $500,000 fine and not more than five years of probation.
The company in a statement said it was pleased to resolve the investigation "based on the actions of its former human resources manager Jose Humberto Gonzalez."
Howard Industries said the illegal workers used fraudulent documents to "circumvent the numerous identification checks" the company used.
But prosecutors said the company knowingly employed illegal immigrants, and even hired some of them after the Social Security Administration told the company that their Social Security numbers were not valid.
Gonzalez admitted to similar allegations when he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20 ... criminated
Re: Lawsuit: Howard Industries discriminated
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ratbstard
One day after Howard Industries Inc. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine for violating immigration laws, four women filed suit against the company accusing it of discriminating against them because they aren't Latino.
Veronica Cook, Yolanda Phelps, Charlyn Dozier and Seleatha McGee, all African American, said they repeatedly applied for employment at Howard Industries, but were only hired after the company was raided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Aug. 25, 2008, 592 illegal workers were arrested at the electrical transformer plant in Laurel in the biggest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history.
"We want Howard Industries to pay for the blatant discrimination it allowed to exist in this plant," the women's attorney, Lisa Ross, said Friday after the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg.
.
Its former human resources manager, Jose Humberto Gonzalez, had pleaded guilty in December 2009 to conspiracy and admitted he hired hundreds of people whom he knew were in the country illegally. Gonzalez, whose sentencing was delayed several times, now will be sentenced Thursday in Hattiesburg federal court. His sentencing date was set Friday.
Ross said she will ask the court to certify the lawsuit as class-action for all those denied employment allegedly because of their race.
"As early as August 2000, Howard Industries devised, implemented, carried out and controlled an employment policy whereby Latino job applicants, all or nearly all being undocumented Mexican immigrants, were given preferential treatment in hiring at Howard Industries' transformer manufacturing facility in Laurel," the lawsuit alleges.
I think EVERY American citizen that has applied for a job, not getting said job and later it is found out that the company was hiring illegals should sue on this basis. I hope these women win and I hope to see more of these lawsuits against the companys that hire illegals.
