Thread: Business owners sue firms accused of hiring illegal aliens

http://insider.washingtontimes.com/arti ... 5538-1988r

Business owners sue firms accused of hiring illegal aliens

By Peter Prengaman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 23, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- Business owners frustrated by lax enforcement of immigration laws are taking their fight to court, accusing competitors of hiring illegal workers to achieve an unfair advantage.
The legal action is an attempt by business and anti-illegal-immigration groups to create an economic deterrent against hiring illegal employees.
In the first of a series of lawsuits, a temporary employment agency that supplies farm workers sued a grower and two competing companies on Monday.
Similar cases claiming violations of federal anti-racketeering laws have yielded mixed results. The California lawsuit is thought to be the first based on a state's unfair-competition laws, legal analysts said.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Global Horizons claimed in the lawsuit that Munger Brothers, a grower, hired illegal alien workers from Ayala Agricultural Services and J&A Contractors. All the defendants are based in California's farm-rich Central Valley.
The suit claims that Munger Brothers had a contract with Global Horizons to provide more than 600 blueberry pickers this spring, but nixed the agreement so it could hire illegal aliens.
"Competitors hiring illegal immigrants is hurting our business badly," Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian said. "It's to the point that doing business legally isn't worth it."
Ayala Agricultural Services manager Javier Rodriguez had not seen the suit but said the company does not hire undocumented immigrants.
"If somebody doesn't have a green card or work documents, we don't hire them," he said.
Messages left with Munger Brothers and J&A Contractors were not returned.
With an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the United States, undocumented workers are a large part of the nation's work force.
But immigration law enforcement at work sites is limited. In fiscal year 1999, authorities arrested 2,849 persons at work sites compared with 1,145 arrests last year, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
To prove competitors hire illegal aliens, businesses could use public records involving prior violations, testimony from former employees who have worked alongside illegal aliens, and recovered W-2 tax forms that show people working under fake names and Social Security numbers, said David Klehm, the lead lawyer for cases in Southern California.
Companies planning to file additional lawsuits include farms and factories that depend heavily on immigrant labor, Mr. Klehm said.
Legal analysts said the cases could be difficult to win. Under the California statutes, plaintiffs must prove a competitor directly harmed their business.
"Unless you've got smoking-gun evidence, it's hard to tie economic loss of one business to another's practices," said Niels Frenzen, a law professor at the University of Southern California.
He thinks it is the first time the unfair-competition law has been used to target illegal immigration.
The Global Horizons lawsuit came after a settlement was reached in a Washington state class action suit involving employees of Zirkle Fruit Co. who sued their employer for driving down wages by hiring undocumented workers.
Based on federal anti-racketeering laws, the case was settled for $1.3 million in January after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision to dismiss it.

Duplicate article. Posted earlier. Please watch the duplicates.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=33156

had,

I checked both google AND the search above the posting section for both author AND title pre-posting and got nothing even similar or I would have checked the article. The same thing happened with the Gang rape article the day before. Brian had suggested checking the author, also, and it has saved some dups.

I also went down the posts, but maybe my eye missed it.

What else can I do? Pat

An author search works great on this one using the forum search engine as you can see below. One clue when looking at the search results are to also look at the posting dates of the other threads.

Be very suspicious when you see other threads posted around the same date. Sometimes the same articles will use different titles if it is run on a different newspaper. If I see the posting date is around the same date as the article I want to post I check it first.

My goal is to help make curiouspat a search expert on Alipac.



http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... +prengaman

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... +prengaman

Thanks Brian, Hadn't thought of checking the dates. I'll get there. I really do try NOT to post dups.

NO author showed when I did it on the internal nor google search, Brian. Is there a time lag? Sometimes?

The google search may have a lag. I don't usually use it but once I tried finding something I just posted and it didn't work. However the forum search seems to work as soon as something is posted.

You may consider just confining the search to the news forum to get fewer results. Also be sure to check "search for all terms" before doing the search. Seems to give better a fewer results compared to the default "search for any terms or use query as entered" selection. As a test try doing a search with Peter Prengaman both ways and you will see what I mean.

Also put Peter Prengaman in the keyword field and not author. I never use the author field. I don't know if that is what you were doing?

Yeppers, that's what I did. Put it under author.

Thanks so much Brian. The help received in so many ways by folks on ALIPAC is phenomenal.

I barely knew how to use a computer, MUCH LESS search for anything, when I joined. Y'all have taught me so much...not just about illegal immigration etc, but also how to search online.

Other than what you've taught me, it's all been trial and error....literally!

I couldn't believe that I beat YOU with either of those articles

And I didn't.

I did beat you one day in number of posts, but of course, THAT DAY, either you weren't online or were only on for minutes....

I found a third author of this article. Here's a test for you. How could you find all 3 articles by different authors with one search word and one search?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-i ... 2344.story

Suit Targets Hiring of Illegal Farmworkers
A Santa Monica temp agency alleges a grower and two firms violated a state law on unfair competition by using undocumented workers.
By Molly Selvin
Times Staff Writer

August 23, 2006

Opponents of illegal immigration are using a new legal tactic: Suing businesses that allegedly hire illegal workers, contending they gain an unfair competitive advantage.

In a complaint filed Monday, a Santa Monica-based temporary employment agency that supplies legal farmworkers sued a Central Valley blueberry grower and two other companies. The agency contends that the grower hired illegal workers, violating a contract to use the agency's employees.

The California lawsuit is believed to be the first based on the state's unfair-competition law, legal experts said. Although the case may be difficult to win, they said, it seeks to highlight widespread criticisms that the federal government is ineffective in enforcing laws barring the hiring of illegal workers.

Companies that follow the law can't compete because their labor costs are so much higher than those using illegal workers, said David Klehm, a Santa Ana attorney who filed the suit. He said he was readying similar claims on behalf of roofers, framers, metal shop owners and other small-business owners.

Santa Monica-based Global Horizons Inc. claimed in the lawsuit, filed in Kern County Superior Court, that blueberry grower Munger Bros. hired illegal immigrant workers from Ayala Agricultural Services and J & A Contractors. All the defendants are based in California's farm-rich Central Valley.

The suit alleges that Munger Bros. had agreed to have Global Horizons provide more than 600 blueberry pickers this spring but abandoned the agreement less than a month into the two-month contract and instead hired illegal immigrants.

"People have been turning their back on the reality that 95% of the agricultural industry uses illegals," Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian said. "We just got hurt with what's out there. We bring in legals. This is just unfair."

Theodore Hoppe, a Fresno lawyer representing Munger Bros., denied that his client hired undocumented immigrants. He said he hadn't yet seen the lawsuit but insisted that Global Horizons "walked off the job because they couldn't perform as contracted."

"Their workers weren't able to do the type of work they had warranted," he said.

Global Horizons sued under the Cartwright Act, California's version of U.S. antitrust laws.

Klehm, Global Horizons' lawyer, said the defendants "conspired to use undocumented workers" who earn lower wages. "By engaging in this conduct of illegal behavior, it lessens competition," he said.

Klehm opened his practice two months ago, after 13 years representing hospitals and doctors, to focus on companies that have lost business because their competitors are hiring illegal immigrants.

Legal experts said these cases could be difficult to win.

"It's clearly a novel strategy, but it may reflect desperation as well as novelty," said Harley Shaiken, a UC Berkeley professor who studies labor issues.

Under California statutes, plaintiffs must prove that a competitor directly harmed their business.

"You have to prove intent, that real damages were suffered," Shaiken said, and there are "endless reasons" that a defendant could marshal against that claim.

"The suit reflects a real anger that's out there, but it's unlikely to change much on a firm-by-firm or case-by-case basis," he said. Only Congress can change the nation's immigration laws, and "Congress is unable to act."

The Global Horizons suit follows the settlement in January of a Washington state class-action lawsuit involving employees of a grower who sued their employer for driving down wages by hiring undocumented workers. The grower settled the case, based on federal anti-racketeering laws, for $1.3 million.

Global Horizons has had labor troubles of its own. The company — which 16 years ago started providing temporary workers for high-technology industries — now operates in 28 states, concentrating on healthcare, agriculture and high tech.

In May, the U.S. Labor Department ordered the company to pay $300,000 in fines and back wages for allegedly deceiving and underpaying 88 Thai workers it sent to Hawaii to harvest onions and pineapples.

Federal investigators also found that Global Horizons illegally deducted wages for housing and food, and may not have paid for the workers' transportation.

The company has also had problems involving alleged labor violations in California and Washington state.

So, Brian, I'm awakened at 1 AM my time, can't get back to sleep, so get up and check, what else , my email, to find your reply. Go to ALIPAC, a test!!!!

Taking your hints and the parameters of the test, I go to the internal site search, did the 'search all terms' for a total of 983 responses for my choice of 'lawsuit'. Using your earlier hint re checking dates, did so and came up with:

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... wforum&f=6

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ht=lawsuit

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ht=lawsuit

I take it from your "one word" that less is more in searching. I've clearly been using far too many words. I also have learned, by trial and error, that word order DOES seem to matter, but haven't totally figured that one out yet. There's also something about using word groups?....using 'xx' or "xx".

There's so much I DON'T know....but I'm learning!

Did I pass? What word would you have used?