CATA v. Perez

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:49:26 +0000

Guestworker Regulations Case

New regulations for the nation’s H-2B guest worker program, enacted in the waning days of the Bush administration, threatened to weaken worker protections and make it easier to replace U.S. workers with temporary foreign labor. The Southern Poverty Law Center and a coalition of immigrant rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging the regulations on behalf of several farmworker organizations and a Mexican guest worker who would be harmed by them.

The lawsuit, originally known as CATA v. Chao and later changed to include current administration officials, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It claimed the new regulations would expand the definition of temporary jobs to include jobs lasting up to three years – increasing the type of jobs open to low-skill guest workers. The existing regulations allowed foreign guest workers to be hired for no more than one year.

The new regulations allowed employers wishing to use the guest worker program to simply vouch that they were unable to find enough U.S. workers for these positions. The existing regulations required employers to obtain certification from the Department of Labor that there is a shortage of U.S. workers.

As a result of the lawsuit, the Department of Labor ultimately changed the way wages for H-2B guest workers were calculated, increasing wages for guest workers and helping prevent them from being used as a cheap alternative to U.S. workers. H-2B employers and employer associations attacked in court, and its implementation was effectively blocked by Congress, largely due to the efforts of a few vocal senators and representatives from states with industries that rely heavily on H-2B workers.

In December 2013, the Department of Labor’s Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals ruled that the department didn’t have the authority to increase the wage rates of the majority of H-2B nonagricultural guest workers – a decision that effectively revoked raises owed to thousands of guest workers as well as threatened to depress the wages of U.S. workers.

The ��Խ� filed a federal lawsuit to reverse the board’s decision. The lawsuit described how the board overstepped its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

Date Filed

January 18, 2009

Date(s) of Disposition

None

Status

Ongoing

Court where filed

District Court for the Eastern Division of Pennsylvania

Issue Area

Immigrant Justice

Plaintiffs

Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters, and Salvador Martinez Barrera

Defendants

Hilda Solis, in her official capacity as United States Secretary of Labor; United States Department of Labor; Alexander J. Passantino, in his official capacity as Acting Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor; Janet Napolitano, in her official capacity as United States Secretary of Homeland Security; and United States Department of Homeland Security

Co-Counsel

Friends of Farmworkers, Inc. (http://www.friendsfw.org)
Edward Tuddenham
Northwest Workers' Justice Project (http://www.nwjp.org)
Migrant Rights Center (http://www.cdmigrante.org)
North Carolina Justice Center (http://www.ncjustice.org)

CATA v. Perez

Jouhari/Horton v. United Klans of America/Frankhouser

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:27:54 +0000

Jouhari case

Bonnie Jouhari was a fair housing specialist at the Reading-Berks Human Relations Council in Pennsylvania. She helped victims of discrimination file complaints and she founded a Hate Crimes Task Force to promote tolerance. For her efforts, white supremacists branded her a "race traitor."

Jouhari, who is white, endured endless harassment and terrorism at her home and her job by neo-Nazis and Klansmen. Her picture and address were posted on the internet. A depiction of her office exploding into flames was posted on a website with the warning that race traitors would be hung. Jouhari and her daughter fled their home in fear for their lives.

The Center represented Jouhari in two separate administrative actions filed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development against her harassers. One action was a damages hearing against Ryan Wilson and his neo-Nazi group ALPHA HQ, the host of the threatening website. The other action was a complaint against Roy Frankhouser, the Grand Dragon of the United Klans of America.

The judgment against Ryan Wilson and ALPHA HQ was $1 million. The settlement with Klan leader Roy Frankhouser was a little different, however.

The Klan leader agreed to attend 80 hours of sensitivity training, perform 1000 hours of community service, broadcast fair housing public service announcements on his public access television show "White Forum," and pay damages and penalties to Jouhari and her daughter. He also agreed to publicly apologize to the mother and daughter and to refrain from harassing them in the future.

Date Filed

August 28, 1998

Date(s) of Disposition

05/05/2000: Enforcement Agreement

Status

Closed

Court where filed

Administrative Complaint filed with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

Issue Area

Hate & Extremism

Plaintiffs

Bonnie L. Jouhari, a fair housing advocate, and her daughter, Pilar D. Horton

Defendants

Roy E. Frankhouser, doing business as United Klans of America

Jouhari/Horton v. United Klans of America/Frankhouser

Case Number

03-98-0692-8 & 03-98-0797-8

Southern Poverty Law Center - Pennsylvania

CATA v. Perez

Guestworker Regulations Case

Date Filed

Date(s) of Disposition

Status

Court where filed

Issue Area

Plaintiffs

Defendants

Related Documents

Co-Counsel

CATA v. Perez

Jouhari/Horton v. United Klans of America/Frankhouser

Jouhari case

Date Filed

Date(s) of Disposition

Status

Court where filed

Issue Area

Plaintiffs

Defendants

Jouhari/Horton v. United Klans of America/Frankhouser

Case Number