| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, April 15 2002 |
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| Joe and Jose worked for the same company for five years. One day they both got fired for passing out union membership cards to their co-workers. It is illegal to fire someone for that reason, so Joe and Jose sued their former employer and demanded back pay. Joe won, but Jose was told that he was not eligible for back pay. Here's the reason: During the five years he worked alongside Joe, with the same schedule, same salary and same income-tax withdrawals, Jose was in violation of federal law for being in this country illegally. In other words, no papers, no rights.
Yes, this is a hypothetical situation, but it's strikingly similar to the reality that undocumented workers will have to face from now on after the Supreme Court ruled a couple of weeks ago that undocumented workers do not have the same labor rights as other workers. No rights, regardless of whether or not they performed their duties on the job. Regardless of whether their firing was unfair or even illegal.
The Supreme Court ruling was based on the case of a Mexican immigrant named Jose Castro. Like my fictional Jose, he was fired for union organizing. He sued his employer, Hoffman Plastic Compounds in California. An administrative judge determined that Castro was ineligible for back pay because he admitted to having used a false birth certificate to get the job. In 1998, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed the ruling and ordered his former employer to pay Jose $67,000 in lost wages.
The Justice Department seemed to be in agreement, and so was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But not the Supreme Court. The high court invalidated the NLRB ruling by a vote of 5 to 4. The court found that the back-pay award undermines immigration laws and would actually attract more undocumented workers to this country. But the four dissenting justices said this ruling would, in fact, encourage employers to hire undocumented workers without fear of being held liable if they violate labor laws.
It's understandable that the Supreme Court be concerned about upholding and protecting immigration laws. But is anyone concerned about the rights of the workers themselves? The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that federal labor laws protect undocumented workers. But now the court feels that it does not entitle them to back pay because the jobs were obtained fraudulently. It seems to me that the court is contradicting itself. How can undocumented workers be protected by some labor laws but not others? In trying to soften the blow, the Labor Department said last week that it will continue to protect the rights of all workers, regardless of their legal status and regardless of the Supreme Court ruling. That's commendable, but it's not like it can override the highest court in the land.
I know there are millions in the United States who feel that undocumented immigrants don't belong here and should be thrown out of the country. But, like it or not, they are here and are doing jobs most Americans don't want. Millions of them have jobs given to them by American companies and American citizens. They work in factories, in the fields, on construction sites; they serve our food, wash our dishes, cut our lawns and take care of our children. They get those jobs because they are cheap and reliable. And now, with the new Supreme Court ruling, employers can fire them whenever they want without having to worry about their rights as workers.
This country relies on the wisdom of its Supreme Court not just to uphold the law, but to make sure the law is applied in a just and fair manner. But there is little fairness or justice in this ruling, which has been condemned by civil-rights groups and labor unions. The strongest condemnation has come from the Mexican Congress, which said slavery has returned to the United States with the blessing of the Supreme Court. Maybe that's going a little too far -- but maybe not. |
