October 10, 2005

Janitors' lawsuit against WalMart still on

NEWARK, N.J. -- A federal judge has allowed a group of illegal immigrant janitors to proceed with a lawsuit seeking overtime pay from discount retailer Wal-Mart.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Greenaway on Friday threw out a motion from Wal-Mart lawyers to dismiss the collective action suit filed by the janitors, who were among those rounded up in immigration raids at Wal-Mart stores two years ago.

While allowing claims on overtime pay and paying below the minimum wage to stand, Greenaway did dismiss three other claims against Wal-Mart, including one that alleged workers were subject to involuntary servitude.

The judge also tossed out a charge that the company violated federal racketeering laws but gave the plaintiffs 45 days to submit more evidence to support their claim...

Previous coverage of this suit here, and see this similar case.

Suits like this are a good thing, as they tend to drive up the cost of illegal labor and disincentivize it. If the government won't do their job, let greedy lawyers effectively do it.

Posted to Immigration2005b at October 10, 2005 07:00 AM

Comments

Funny how when American students who pay out-of-state tuition rates to attend college in Kansas -- while illegals pay the in-state rate -- sued about that situation, their suit was thrown out because they "lacked standing". And here, people in the country illegally apparently have "standing", or enough of it, to push this lawsuit forward.

Posted by: eh at October 10, 2005 08:48 AM