A French bakery in Los Angeles trafficked workers from the Philippines, promising them jobs as chefs and managers, then making them do landscaping and maintenance for 13 hours a day for less than $3 per hour, 11 former workers claim in court.
News Story (California)
Jamie Ross
Courthouse News Service
March 20, 2015
Full story
Tags: Employment, Trafficking, Wage Theft, Workers Rights
News Story (California)
Jamie Ross
Courthouse News Service
March 20, 2015
Full story
Tags: Employment, Trafficking, Wage Theft, Workers Rights
DETAILS
The 27-count lawsuit alleges human trafficking, RICO violations, fraud, discrimination, harassment, immigration violations, nine Labor Code violations, among other things.
Alabado claims she and the other workers were promised jobs at L’Amande French Bakery, of Beverly Hills and Torrance, to be “skilled bakery chefs and managers, but when they arrived what they faced was starkly different.”
The Almeidas recruited 10 of the plaintiffs from their chain of French bakeries in the Philippines, secured E-2 visas for them, “and then flew them in batches of two or three from the Philippines to Southern California to begin work,” according to the 52-page complaint.