Filipino Educators Federation of Louisiana (FEFL)
PRESS RELEASE
December 19, 2012
The Filipino Educators
Federation of Louisiana (FEFL) are elated on the result of
Monday’s decision on the federal
class action suit filed more than two years ago against recruitment agency
Universal Placement International (UPI) and its owner Lourdes “Lulu” Navarro. “This
victory is a product of the continued vigilance and unrelenting efforts of teachers
who converted their victimization into a struggle for justice,” declared Ingrid
Cruz, the FEFL founding president.
In a verdict read before
the court, the jury unanimously ruled and awarded $4.5 million in damages to
the members of the class of migrant Filipino teachers recruited from 2007 to 2009
by UPI to work in different school districts in Louisiana under H-1B visas. The
federal jury found that UPI and Navarro violated the California Employment
Agency Act, the Unfair Business Practices Act and for negligent
misrepresentation.
“While the jury did not
find that UPI and Navarro violated the Trafficking Violation
Protection Act (TVPA), we
feel vindicated with the verdict. The bottom line is that we have proven that
UPI and Navarro committed unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices to
deceive migrant teachers,” underscored Cruz.
One of the main objectives
of the teachers in their quest for justice is to have the unfair and lopsided
contracts force upon them by UPI nullified and they were able to achieve that as
a result of this case. “So on top of the damages award, these unfair contracts
were declared void and the countercharges filed by UPI and Navarro against the
teachers were dismissed,” added Cruz.
FEFL pledged to continue
their advocacy for migrant workers rights. “Schemes of this nature must be
stopped and no other migrant worker should be subjected to such an anomalous
and fraudulent process which offers the American dream yet ends up as a nightmare”,
Cruz also asserted.
Cruz further said that Filipino
teachers are indebted and are grateful to the Southern Poverty Law center
(SPLC), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the Covington and
Burling Law firm who represented them in their cause.
FEFL also acknowledged the Filipino-American
community and Filipino organizations that assisted and supported their efforts.
Approved for release:
FEFL Executive Committee
Eva Adolfo – FEFL Secretary
+1(225) 650 4774
1 comment:
Firm Defeats Trafficking Claim in $15 Million Lawsuit.
Following a hard-fought two-year battle, the litigation team at Hernandez, Schaedel & Associates successfully defeated a human trafficking claim brought against its clients by a class of teachers.
HS&A defended a California-based recruitment agency, Universal Placement International, Inc. and its owner, Lourdes Navarro, in a $15million class action lawsuit brought against the company and Ms. Navarro by a class of 347 Filipino teachers. Mairi Nunag-Tañedo, et al v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, et al (U.S.D.C. C.D. Cal. Civ.No.10-01172-JAK-MLG.)
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