Lawsuits Filed in New Orleans Federal Court on Behalf of Immigrant Workers

The New Orleans Times Picayune reported on Feb. 2nd that a lawsuit has been filed against three disaster clean-up companies alleging exploitation of migrant workers. Lawyers from the Immigrant Justice Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center filed two separate complaints in federal court in New Orleans on behalf of nearly 1,700 workers complaining that workers were required to work 12-hour days, seven days a week without promised compensation.

One complaint sues LVI Environmental Services of New Orleans, Inc., and D&L Environmental, Inc. of Florida for “grossly underpaying” workers. In some cases, the complaint alleges, workers were paid nothing after long days removing mold, mud, and debris from public school buildings. The complaint alleges that LVI used the subcontractor hiring system (hiring D&L) to “evade responsibility to pay minimum wage and overtime wages as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

One of the workers, who is part of the suit, reported in an interview that D&L promised him $13 per hour, plus $18 per hour for overtime, in addition to meals and a hotel room. However, he was only paid $9.50 per hour, and was told his pay was docked for meals. He stated further that he was not paid for a full week of work, nor did D&L pay for his hotel. The LVI and D&L lawsuits represent more than 700 workers.

The second lawsuit is against Belfor USA Group and subcontractors who failed to pay overtime. The Belfor lawsuit represents more than 1,000 workers.

Under the law, the plaintiffs can get double the lost wages if successful in court. Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to identify them as legal or illegal immigrants because the law applies irrespective of immigration status.

One worker who was interviewed stated that the work site bosses were abusive, refusing to feed them during an entire workday, and firing workers who took breaks owed to them.

KJ