How about Thanks for not reporting us to INS?
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--wal-mart-arrests1109nov09,0,3126522,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wireIllegal immigrants arrested in Wal-Mart raid file suit
November 9, 2003, 10:39 AM EST
FREEHOLD, N.J. -- Nine illegal immigrants who worked as janitors at Wal-Mart until they were arrested during federal raids last month have sued the company, accusing it of discriminating against them.
The Mexican immigrants, who worked as janitors, also accuse Wal-Mart and its cleaning contractors of failing to pay overtime, withhold taxes and make required workers' compensation contributions.
The plaintiffs, who face deportation, were among 250 people arrested in an Oct. 23 raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Superior Court in Freehold is the first from immigrants arrested in the raid.
According to the lawsuit, Wal-Mart employed cleaning contractors "with full knowledge" that they paid illegal immigrants less than legal workers.
The lawsuit says managers at Wal-Mart stores in Old Bridge and Piscataway knew the nine plaintiffs were illegal immigrants.
"Wal-Mart must have known about these violations," the immigrant's lawyer, Gilberto Garcia, told The New York Times. "If these people are going to work at Wal-Marts, then Wal-Mart and its contractors should abide by the labor laws."
Mona Williams, vice president of Wal-Mart for communications, said the company did not know about the labor violations of which contractors are accused, or that they used illegal immigrants. She said Wal-Mart has long insisted that its contractors obey the law.
"Clearly, hungry lawyers are converging on these illegal immigrants as if they were accident victims," Williams said. "We have seen absolutely no evidence showing that Wal-Mart did anything wrong."
She acknowledged that Wal-Mart has received a letter from federal prosecutors warning that it faces a grand jury investigation into illegal immigrants employed at its stores.
The plaintiffs say they worked at least 56 hours a week and were not paid time and a half for overtime hours, those over 40 a week. They say they were paid between $350 and $500 a week.
They have asked Wal-Mart and its contractors for more than $200,000 in back pay they say they are owed for overtime.
The raid led to arrests in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
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