Thread: Worker wins her rights but loses hope

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... IPK9E1.DTL

Worker wins her rights but loses hope
Someone told feds she's here illegally
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006


Sonia Cano was happy to win thousands of dollars from the San Francisco taqueria that for two years had paid her less than the city minimum wage. But she may have lost far more when someone anonymously reported her and her husband to immigration authorities.

Cano and her husband, Carlos Barrancos, illegal immigrants from Mexico, were reported to federal authorities in November. Cano was eight months pregnant at the time and gave birth to their baby in San Francisco alone -- while Barrancos was in an Arizona immigration jail.

As policymakers debate how to handle the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States and the continuing influx, the case highlights the contradictions inherent in the marketplace for illegal immigrant labor.

Most illegal immigrants like Cano don't contest unfair working conditions because they fear retaliation. But that encourages unscrupulous employers to continue hiring illegal immigrants, some labor and immigration experts say.

"There's very well-established law that workers, documented or not, are protected by state and federal wage and hour laws, discrimination laws and by the right to organize a union," said Marci Seville, Cano's lawyer and a professor at Golden Gate University Law School in San Francisco. "There's protection against retaliation, but people get very frightened about asserting their rights."

Cradling her 4-month-old son on Wednesday, Cano said she filed a complaint with the city's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement in June after she learned that her employer, Si Señor Taqueria, wasn't paying the city's minimum wage. Days later, the Financial District restaurant fired her, she said.

The city investigated her claim and concluded that Si Señor owed Cano and 13 other employees more than $22,000 in back wages, said Donna Levitt, who heads the labor enforcement office. She said Si Señor has paid the workers what they were owed.

Seville and Young Workers United, a nonprofit organization that organizes restaurant workers, helped Cano file complaints with the city and state over her firing and began negotiating with the restaurant.

Then, early one morning in December, immigration agents knocked on the couple's apartment door and arrested Barrancos.

Cano and Barrancos eventually learned that they had been reported anonymously to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a November letter. The letter also attacked Barrancos' character, allegations the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said turned out to be unfounded. "ICE frequently receives letters and phoned-in tips from various members of the community, and in some cases they're basically poison-pen letters motivated by self-interest," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

Barrancos, cleared of the anonymous allegations, has since been released from detention and will be allowed to leave the United States voluntarily rather than being forcibly deported, Kice said.

Cano has reached a confidential settlement with Si Señor over her termination, she said. She said, however, that she fears that she, too, will be required to leave the country.

Two owners of Si Señor, Salvador Guillen and his wife, did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.

In the Cano case, it is not known who reported her and her husband to the federal immigration authorities.

Many employers do use the threat of deportation against illegal immigrants who try to assert their rights in the workplace, said Katie Quan, chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center. That led the AFL-CIO to change its policy on immigration in 2000 and support legalization for undocumented workers who are already in the United States, she added.

"If we allow a situation where certain workers are not entitled to the same rights as other workers, then we're essentially creating an underclass, a substandard tier of workers," Quan said. "This will only encourage employers to employ more workers who are undocumented ... . The standards and rights of everyone are eroded when there's an underclass created."

Steve Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. -- which favors tighter restrictions on immigration -- contested the notion that illegal immigrant workers are more likely to be exploited by their bosses, but he called for stronger workplace enforcement of immigration laws.

"The employer should be penalized for hiring illegals and should be penalized for violating labor laws," he said. "You don't want a situation where you can get away with violating labor laws if your workers are illegal. You want the employee to get some restitution, and then you want her to leave the country. You don't want to reward illegals either."

E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.

Most illegal immigrants like Cano don't contest unfair working conditions because they fear retaliation. But that encourages unscrupulous employers to continue hiring illegal immigrants, some labor and immigration experts say.

just in case they don't know, MANY American citizens don't report unfair working conditions because they fear retaliation -- who's standing up for them?

"There's very well-established law that workers, documented or not, are protected by state and federal wage and hour laws, discrimination laws and by the right to organize a union," said Marci Seville, Cano's lawyer and a professor at Golden Gate University Law School in San Francisco. "There's protection against retaliation, but people get very frightened about asserting their rights."

I wonder what "well-established" laws those are for 'undocumented' workers

Actually, this is wonderful. Let the ILLEGALS keep suing their employers and one way or the other...............
the Employers will get screwed! Now that's a round a bout way for justice but it's sweet none the less.

the thing is, the courts make it easier for illegals to win than American citizens