Hundreds of undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles are benefiting from a new federal program that shields those who have been victims of labor abuse from deportation, reports La Opinión.
The program, Deferred Action for Workers in Labor Disputes, allows employees involved in labor disputes at their workplace to request temporary protection from deportation and a work permit. The “deferred action” last two years and can be renewed while the case is pending.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the program in January of 2013.
The Los Angeles based labor rights group KIWA, recently joined with Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center and attorneys from the University of California, Davis, to process applications, the paper reports.
“When workers come to complain to KIWA about the abuses they suffer in their employment, we notify the Department of Labor,” KIWA Campaign Director David Abud noted. Once an investigation is initiated, the worker can then apply for the deferred action program and receive a work permit, he noted.
“We are supporting employees of supermarkets and a restaurant in Los Angeles, who have come to complain about their working conditions or that their right to unionize has been violated.”
Applications typically take between 2 to 3 months to process, Abud adds.
“The beneficiaries are also given a social security number; and although it is not a permanent program, in the process we have identified that some of the workers may qualify for another type of immigration relief that gives them the possibility of becoming residents. So, DALE is like a bridge to permanent residency.”
Labor violations include wage theft, hiring of minors, violations of the right to unionize, health code infractions, and others.
“Although the request is made by the individual, the violations must affect a group of workers,” Abud explained, noting that of those who have applied 100% have qualified for the program.
Abud says there are thousands of workers who can qualify for this DALE program, and 100% of those who apply qualify.
Oaxacan immigrant Mercedes Baldonado, who worked for almost five years at the Benito Juárez supermarket in Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit against her employers for not paying her overtime.
“When they found out about the complaint, the retaliation began. For any little thing they would call me out and harass me. They even gave me a warning when I got sick during work hours,” she told La Opinión. “Then they fired me unfairly.”
Baldonado says she had not known about the program until she filed her lawsuit through KIWA, which helped her apply for a work permit.
Workers at Korean-owned Hannam Chain and Benito Juárez Market, as well as at the staffing agency BaronHR have all be implicated in complaints received by KIWA. All three companies are currently being investigated by federal agencies.
Twenty-six-year-old Guatemalan Karin Martinez spent two months working at a potato chip packing house, a job she got through BaronHr staffing agency, which she says never paid her for the work she did.
“They paid us with bad checks while other colleagues were made to cash their checks up to two weeks after they were dispersed.”
They also made her work 12 hours a day.
When she left work due to lack of pay, she found the organization Arriba Las Vegas on social media, which educates workers about their rights.
“A co-worker who was a minor, 14 years old, and I went to report, and more than 70 people came forward with the same complaint,” she says.
Martinez received her work permit in June through the Deferred Action program.
“I am very happy because this program has totally changed my life. A work permit means a lot. It gives me the security of a decent job and salary.”
Anaheim-based BaronHR, which operates in 22 states nationwide, recently settled with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $2.2 million over allegations of discriminatory hiring practices. The company filed for bankruptcy in April of this year.
Earlier this month the company’s owner plead guilty to tax evasion amounting to $60 million, a portion of which includes payments withheld from employees.
“Every day, we receive calls from workers who have been abused by BaronHR, a company that for 20 years has worked in 22 states with more than 70 companies, but there are also labor investigations against construction and commercial cleaning companies,” says Bliss Requa-Trautz of Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center.
She adds that more than 500 workers who have suffered workplace abuses and been part of a labor investigation have received work permits under the deferred action program.
This story was originally published in Spanish by La Opinión. Feature image published via Creative Commons license.
