Hoffman: Federal Court Rules Undocumented Workers Entitled To Damages For Retaliatory Termination, But Not To Back Pay Or Front Pay

IMMIGRANTS & EMPLOYMENT

Immigrants' Employment Rights and Remedies

HOFFMAN: FEDERAL COURT RULES UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS ENTITLED TO DAMAGES FOR RETALIATORY TERMINATION, BUT NOT TO BACK PAY OR FRONT PAY
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 17, Issue 5 September 4, 2003

A federal district court in Illinois has denied in part the defendants' summary judgment motion in a lawsuit brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), rejecting their argument that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137 (2002), bars an award of compensatory damages. (For a summary of the Hoffman decision, see "Supreme Court Bars Undocumented Worker from Receiving Back Pay Remedy for Unlawful Firing," IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS UPDATE, Apr. 12, 2002, p. 10.) The court, however, determined that Hoffman bars back pay and front pay.

In Nov. 1999 Italia Foods, a manufacturer of frozen Italian foods, stopped compensating workers at one and a half times their regular wage for overtime hours worked and began paying them straight time without any deductions. Jose Renteria sued under the FLSA and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. When three other workers joined the lawsuit, the employer fired them. The plaintiffs then added retaliatory discharge claims to their lawsuit.

The defendants moved for summary judgment, citing Hoffman for the proposition that if plaintiffs prevail on their retaliatory discharge claim, they are not entitled to back pay, front pay, or compensatory damages, because when they were employed they were not legally authorized to work in the United States. The court rejected the argument as to compensatory damages, agreeing with the decision of a California federal court, Singh v. Jutla, et al., 214 F. Supp. 2d. 1056 (N.D. Cal. 2002). (For a discussion of that case, see "Court Denies Motion to Dismiss in Retaliation Case Where Worker Was Reported to INS," IRU, Oct. 21, 2002.) The court reasoned that, "unlike the remedy of back pay or front pay, the remedy of compensatory damages does not assume the undocumented worker's continued (and illegal) employment by the employer."

Renteria, et al. v. Italia Foods, Inc., et al.,
2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14689 (N.D. Ill., Aug. 21, 2003).