Queens couple plead guilty to keeping children as slaves

Sook Yeong Park and Jeong Taek Lee held two Korean kids as slaves in their home for several years.



This week in New York, a Flushing couple admitted to holding two Korean children as slaves in their home for several years, forcing them to work long hours and withholding contact with their parents.

Couple Who Kept Korean Teens as 'Slaves' at Flushing Home Plead Guilty

50-year-old Sook Yeong Park pleaded guilty to two counts of labor trafficking. Park was sentenced to six months in prison followed by five years probation, after taking a plea deal. The 60-count indictment against her included grand larceny, forcible touching and assault for her treatment of the two children. Her husband, 54-year-old Jeong Taek Lee, was sentenced to five years probation.

The two victims, a 9-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister from Korea, were brought to stay with the couple in January 2010. Shortly afterwards, Park confiscated their passports and effectively enslaved them.

Chinese Daily News settles labor lawsuit for $7.8 million

Class action victory represents one of the largest wage justice settlements in Asian American history.



After more than a decade of hard-fought litigation, more than 200 past and present employees of China Daily News, one of the country's biggest Chinese language newspapers, obtained a $7.8 million settlement for multiple alleged labor violations.

The class action victory represents one of the largest wage justice settlements in Asian American history.

The suit alleged that Chinese Daily News, known in the Chinese community as World Journal, routinely subjected employees to unfair labor practices including violations of wage laws.

Workers said they were often forced to work 12-hour shifts six days a week without the required rest break. They were not paid overtime, nor were they allowed to report the actual number of hours they worked. The paper also denied workers proper holiday pay.

The original lawsuit stretches back to 2004, when three workers -- including a reporter and sales agent -- sued the Monterey Park-based newspaper over the alleged labor abuses. The suit was certified as a class action, eventually ballooning to more than 200 newspaper workers.

School to be renamed for Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz

Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School will be the nation's first school named in honor of Filipino Americans.


A mural in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown honors Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.
This week, a Bay Area middle school will be officially renamed in honor of labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz. It is believed to be the first school in the nation to be named in honor of Filipino Americans.

Union City school first in nation named for Filipino-Americans

On Friday, Alvarado Middle School in Union City will be renamed Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School. Itlong and Vera Cruz were key figures in the west coast labor movement, working with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s to organize agricultural laborers and improve working conditions.

The name change was approved by the school board in 2013 after a vigorous community debate over whether to retain the name Alvarado, in honor of a 19th century Mexican governor.

Disney accused of segregating Sikh employee

Gurdit Singh was barred from delivering mail in view of Disney World guests because of his turban and beard.



In Orlando, a Sikh American employee of Walt Disney World, who claimed his delivery routes were restricted and hidden from public view of Disney visitors because of his religious appearance, has won the right to have the same routes as other delivery workers.

Disney Allows Sikh Worker to Show Turban and Uncut Beard

Gurdit Singh, a mail carrier at Disney World, wears a turban and unshaved beard in accordance of his Sikh faith, which allegedly violate Disney's strict grooming guidelines, known as "The Disney Look." Because of his appearance, Singh says he was segregated from co-workers, denied career advancements and barred from delivering mail through Disney's resorts and theme parks in view of guests.

Restaurant owner arrested for enslaving cook

Pradeep Kumar is accused of enslaving and abusing an Indian restaurant worker for three years.



Damn. Been hearing way too many stories like this lately... In Southern California, a restaurant owner has been arrested for allegedly enslaving an Indian employee and holding him in servitude for several years.

Valencia restaurant owner accused of slavery, beating employee

47-year-old Pradeep Kumar was arrested this week on suspicion of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, human trafficking and holding a person in involuntary servitude. Police say the victim, an unnamed 55-year-old Indian national, endured three years of slavery and physical abuse.

The victim was lured to the United States in 2012 to work as a chef at Tandoori Grill in Valencia. But Kumar confiscated his passport, barred him from contact with the outside world, and forced the cook to work seven days a week, about 12 to 14 hours each day without pay. When he made mistakes, Kumar would beat him.

Korean restaurant ordered to pay $2.67 million in back wages

Kum Gang San failed to pay minimum wage and overtime and stole tips from workers.



In New York, a federal magistrate judge has awarded $2.67 million in damages to eleven workers claiming wage theft against Kum Gang San, a Korean restaurant with branches in Manhattan and Flushing.

Judge Tells Korean-Restaurant Owner in Queens to Pay $2.7 Million in Back Wages

Last Thursday, the court ruled that Kum Gang San, owner Ji Sung Yoo and two restaurant managers owed $2,672,657 in damages to the workers, who are Korean and Latino. The defendants failed to pay minimum wages and overtime pay and stole tips from the workers, in violation of federal and state labor laws.

The plaintiffs say the restaurant required them to work 10-12 hours a day without overtime pay, or even minimum pay, and routinely stole tips that were owed to wait staff. But the last straw was making the employees pick vegetables at the owner's farm outside the city. Oh hell no.

Filipino workers file labor lawsuit against popular bakery

Eleven guest workers are suing L'Amande French Bakery for exploitation, discrimination and trafficking.


(Los Angeles Times)
This week in Los Angeles, eleven immigrant workers filed a lawsuit against two popular bakeries, alleging that owners lured them from the Philippines promising high-paying jobs, only to exploit them.

Beverly Hills bakery workers say they were paid as little as $2 an hour

The lawsuit, filed by Advancing Justice - LA and Latham & Watkins LLP on behalf of eleven current and former employees of L'Amande French Bakery, alleges that the workers were fraudulently lured to the United States on E-2 guest worker visas and then subjected to exploitative working conditions including forced labor, severe wage theft, immigration-related retaliation, and national origin discrimination.

Dim sum restaurant workers win $4 million labor settlement

San Francisco's Yank Sing accused of blatant wage and labor violations.



One of San Francisco's most popular and acclaimed restaurants has reached a massive $4 million labor settlement with its workers, who accused owners of wage theft and other serious labor violations.

Yank Sing workers get $4 million settlement from ownership

Last week, 280 current and former employees of Yank Sing, which operates two popular dim sum restaurant locations, received a $4 million dollar backpay and benefits settlement over a host of blatant labor violations, including issues surrounding overtime pay, tips and wage theft and shift breaks.

The action was organized with the help of the Chinese Progressive Association and the Asian Law Caucus, who filed complaints with government agencies and confronted Yang Sing's management with their demands:

Labor organizer Ai-jen Poo named 2014 MacArthur 'Genius'

Receives unrestricted $625,000 grant to support ongoing work.



Congratulations to labor organizer Ai-jen Poo, who has been named a 2014 MacArthur "Genius." Each year, the MacArthur Foundation gives "unrestricted $625,000 fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction."

Meet The 2014 Winners Of The MacArthur 'Genius Grants'

As executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Poo has been organizing housekeepers, nannies and home health aides to expand workplace protections. Her work with domestic and private-household workers in New York led to new laws that have spread to several other states.

Here's more on Ai-jen Poo and her awesome work:

Sorry. That was a hoax. Gap did not promise to compensate the families of workers killed in a factory fire.

18MR's prank site GapDoesMore.com raises questions about conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh



Yesterday, the website GapDoesMore.com -- launched shortly after Gap Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting -- announced that the mega clothing chain was finally going to compensate the families of seven workers killed last year in a fire at Aswad Composite Mills, a Gap supplier in Bangladesh. According to the press release, Gap Inc. would sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

What great news! The only thing is... GapDoesMore.com has nothing to do with Gap Inc. The website was an epic prank orchestrated by 18 Million Rising in an effort to pressure the clothier to ensure the safety and fair treatment of its workers. In reality, Gap Inc. has not taken responsibility or made any such promises.

Gap Gets Hoaxed With Fake Website Seeking Compensation And Better Working Conditions

Ingenious. The Yes Men would be proud. However, Gap did not take kindly to the fake news that it would be acting responsibly. It took the company less than three hours to get wind of the site and issue a statement decrying the "fraudulent" information on GapDoesMore.com. Gap has since managed to get the website (and its accompanying Twitter account @gapdoesmore) suspended.

Why all the hoaxing and shaming? 18MR explains:

Chinatown garment workers win $1.2 million in damages for labor law violations

Ah yes, the old phantom boss trick. Nice try.



Justice! Passing along this news from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund... This week, a Manhattan federal judge awarded thirteen Chinatown garment workers over $1.2 million in damages for unpaid minimum wage and overtime pay owed between 2005 to 2010.

The plaintiffs -- thirteen Chinese immigrant garment workers represented by AALDEF -- were employed at the Walker Street Factory six or seven days a week, regularly toiling over 10 to 12 hours a day or even longer when the factory was rushing to complete some garments. The workers were paid by the piece and often did not earn the minimum wage or receive overtime pay.

Chinese Railroad Workers to be inducted into Labor Hall of Honor

Formal induction ceremony at U.S. Department of Labor on Friday, May 9



This week, the U.S. Department of Labor will induct the thousands of Chinese railroad workers, who worked on the Central Pacific Railroad between 1865 and 1869, into the Labor Hall of Honor. It only took 145 years.

Chris Lu confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Labor

Only the second Asian American to hold a Deputy Secretary position in history



Confirmed. This week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher P. Lu as deputy secretary of labor. Lu, who was nominated in January and confirmed Tuesday on a voice vote, previously served as Assistant to the President and White House cabinet secretary during President Obama's first term.

Lu confirmed for Labor #2; Whitaker for Colombia

Lu's confirmation makes him the first Asian American to serve in a deputy secretaryship during this administration. He is also apparently only the second Asian American to hold a Deputy Secretary position in history. (Elaine Chao, former deputy secretary of Transportation in the first Bush administration, was the first.)

Here is U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez's statment on Lu's confirmation:

Arrest of Indian diplomat sparks international outrage

Devyani Khobragade, accused of visa fraud, says she suffered "indignities"



In New York City, the arrest of an Indian diplomat on visa charges has sparked international outrage. Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general, says she suffered "indignities" when she handcuffed, subjected to a strip search, cavity search and DNA swabbing, and placed in a holdup "with common criminals and drug addicts" by U.S. authorities despite her "incessant assertions of immunity."

Devyani Khobragade Says She Faced Cavity Search In NYC; Outrage In India After Diplomat Arrested

Khobragade, who was arrested last Thursday outside of her daughter's school in Manhattan, is accused of submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her housekeeper, Sangeeta Richard. According to prosecutors, Khobragade claimed on visa application documents she paid her Indian maid $4,500 per month, but that she actually paid her around five hundred dollars a month -- that's around $3.31 per hour.

Unpaid interns are not protected from sexual harassment

Intern alleges harassment but can't file a claim because she wasn't a paid employee.

Let's be real -- it sucks to be an unpaid intern. We can argue the merits of gaining experience versus the toil of unpaid grunt work, but nobody enjoys not getting paid. And on top of that, it apparently means not being able to bring a sexual harassment claim against your employer.

Last week, a New York federal district court ruled that Lihuan Wang, a former intern at Phoenix Satellite Television, could not bring a sexual harassment claim under New York human rights laws because she was not compensated, and therefore not considered an employee: Unpaid interns not protected from sexual harassment.

According to the lawsuit, Wang was interning at the Chinese-language media company's New York office when her supervisor and bureau chief, Zhengzhu Liu, sexually harassed her after luring her to his hotel room with the bullshit excuse of wanting to talk about her job performance and the possibility of hiring her full time:

Beats for Bangladesh: A Benefit Album in Solidarity with the Garment Workers of Rana Plaza

On April 24, an eight-story commercial building collapsed in the Savar district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,127 and injuring over 2,500 people -- mostly women working in the five garment factories operating inside Rana Plaza. It is considered to be the deadliest garment factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. Question: What can you do to help?

Mishthi Music presents Beats for Bangladesh: A Benefit Album in Solidarity with the Garment Workers of Rana Plaza. The album includes an eclectic 26 tracks for a donation of $15 (or more). Donations will go directly to the Bangladeshi Center for Workers Rights, the group on the ground helping the orphans and families of the victims of the Rana Plaza collapse.

Here's one way. Presented by the music blog Mishthi Music, the album is executive produced and curated by world reknowned hip-hop artist Brooklyn Shanti, and political activist/writer Tanzila 'Taz' Ahmed. It features a strong mix of tracks by South Asian artists from the across the United States and beyond. You can listen to the preview below:

Kicking ass on behalf of California's workers

Check out this awesome recent Los Angeles Times profile on California Labor Commissioner Julie Su, who fights to ensure that workers get "a just day's pay for a hard day's work": Her job: Stopping wage theft.

In her two years as California's top labor law enforcer, Su has filed criminal charges and civil lawsuits and issued citations that identified more than $185 million in unpaid wages and other compensation legally due workers.

Basically, she kicks ass on behalf of the everyday working person:

Julie Su appointed as California's Labor Commissioner

Last week, I received the awesome news that Julie Su, litigation director at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles, has been appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to be California's Labor Commissioner.

She was already known as a fierce labor law warrior, but this appointment takes her asskicking to a whole other level. You dare violate California's labor laws? Face the battle-tested and state-approved justice of Julie Su! Here's APALC's press release:

thai restaurant accused of underpaying labor

This week in New York, the owner of a downtown Thai restaurant was accused of underpaying restaurant workers by a total of $770,00 over the last six years, sometimes as little as $2.08 an hour.

They are now seeking back wages as well as $192,000 in damages from Hann Low, the owner of two Lemongrass Grill restaurants in the city: Thai Restaurant Accused of Underpaying Labor.