LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS National Office

2000 L Street, NW, Suite 610 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 833-6130 (202) 833-6135 PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release March 29, 2002

Contact: Gabriela Lemus 202-833-6130

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) today condemned the Supreme Court's decision to deny back pay to immigrants without working papers who are illegally fired for attempting to join a labor union. The ruling creates greater incentives for hiring undocumented workers by ultimately lowering the costs of labor law violations, LULAC President Rick Dovalina said.

The Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to reverse the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) decision to grant employee Jose Castro $67,000 in back pay after being fired by Hoffman Plastic Compounds Inc. for supporting an organizing drive by the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America in 1988.

"The Court's logic that the NLRB thwarted the nation's immigration goal of preventing the hiring of undocumented workers by granting back pay is flawed," Dovalina said. "In fact, the decision creates the opposite effect: now companies large and small will have no barriers whatsoever to hire undocumented labor because these workers have no way left to protect themselves.

"A worker's basic right to join a union, for all intensive purposes, has been reduced to a symbolic gesture, because it has no teeth. Corporate legal liability has been removed. The potential for abuse of labor laws against undocumented workers will grow exponentially with this ruling."

The court's decision is based on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which makes it unlawful for employers knowingly to hire undocumented workers or for employees to misrepresent themselves by using false documents to establish employment eligibility. Jose Castro testified that he had never been legally admitted to work in the United States at a compliance hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. The NLRB held that the most effective means to further the immigration policies embodied by IRCA was by providing the protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act to undocumented workers in the same manner as to other employees.

"Once again, the onus is on the employee. Corporations get slapped on the wrist and workers lose their livelihood," Dovalina said. "Which party is guiltier? The individual trying to feed his or her family, or the corporation that purposefully hires undocumented workers with the full knowledge that they, the company, will suffer little, if any, penalties? The notion that posting a notice detailing employees' rights and a corporation's prior unfair practices represents a significant sanction is ludicrous."

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.