Mexican workers win $54,400 settlement

Texas company ordered to pay 68 workers for work promised

 GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — A federal judge ordered a Texas company accused of human trafficking to pay $54,400 to 68 Mexican workers that got stuck in Glenwood Springs.  The workers said they arrived legally with work visas in Glenwood Springs in November 2007 but never got work they were promised by JNS Construction Services LLC, of Texas. They had hoped to make some money for their families before Christmas.  Glenwood Springs attorney Don Kaufman filed the lawsuit free of charge on behalf of the workers, saying they deserved justice. He couldn’t be immediately reached Thursday.  The workers said they borrowed and spent significant amounts of money to travel from different places in Mexico for the promised work. The group, originally totaling more than 80, ended up in limbo at local hotels after not getting the jobs they came for. 
John Herzer, an owner of JNS, said previously he made a cash offer to the men and sent two buses to take them back to Mexico. On Dec. 21, 2007, most of the men rode the buses back to Mexico but about 10 stayed behind and ended up here illegally after their work visas expired.  The original legal complaint accused JNS of human trafficking. It said the workers were owed at least $910 each for a three week period, totaling $177,450. The complaint said the defendants threatened the workers with retaliation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep them in line. “Isolated, disoriented, unable to speak English, and unfamiliar with their rights under American law, individual plaintiffs were exploited by defendants and felt powerless to escape,” the complaint said. “They were warehoused without an ability to object or leave.”  A U.S. Circuit Judge said in an April 3 order that a judgment is entered in favor of the workers and the defendants, JNS Construction and Leno Aseudo of Leno and Company LLC, are obligated to pay the workers $800 each totaling $54,400.  Leno Aseudo reportedly worked for JNS by contacting and organizing the workers.  A Kansas drywall company, Midwest Drywall, also became a plaintiff in the case. It said JNS filed a false document with the Department of Labor to obtain work visas. The document included a phony signature and was put on purported Midwest letterhead and represented that Midwest needed around 100 workers for a project near Vail, the company said, but Midwest never made such a representation.  The judge’s order adopted another judge’s recommendations, which included rejecting Kaufman’s request for an award of attorney’s fees. The request was based on allegations JNS and Leno Aseudo acted in bad faith by failing to comply with a settlement agreement.  It wasn’t immediately clear if JNS has paid the settlement. In a court document in October, Kaufman asked the judge to enforce the settlement and said court dates were delayed as the defendants didn’t pay the settlement on time. An attorney for JNS owner John Herzer said in September that Herzer was “having problems obtaining the financing to make the agreed upon settlement payment,” Kaufman’s motion says.  “At worst the defendants are intentionally taking advantage of the extreme poverty of the plaintiffs by abusing the judicial process and the fairness of the court, at best they are in default of a binding settlement agreement of this court,” Kaufman’s Oct. 2 motion says.  The case was to be dismissed within 20 days of the April 3 order.  Contact Pete Fowler: 384-9121 pfowler@postindependent.com

Juez de EEUU ordena compensación a trabajadores mexicanos  

 The Associated Press April 11, 2009, 11:48PM Un juez ordenó a dos compañías pagar 54.400 dólares en compensación a un grupo de trabajadores mexicanos que llegaron a Estados Unidos legalmente con la esperanza de obtener empleos que nunca se hicieron realidad. El juez federal de distrito David Ebel ordenó a la compañía JNS Construction de Austin, Texas, y a Leno & Co. LLC de Denton, Texas, pagar 800 dólares a cada uno de los 68 trabajadores. Las compañías fueron responsables de reclutar y transportarlos a Glenwood Springs, Colorado, en noviembre del 2007.Ambas tienen hasta el 23 de abril para apelar la orden de Ebel, que fue emitida el 3 de abril. Se intentó establecer contacto con el propietario de JNS, John Herzer, que fungió como su propio abogado, sin poder lograrlo. También se dejó un mensaje al abogado de Leno & Co., Charles Kimball, sin que se obtuviera respuesta. Los trabajadores llegaron a Colorado con pasaportes mexicanos legales, identificaciones y visas H2B, que permiten a las compañías contratar a trabajadores extranjeros en Estados Unidos si no se puede conseguir empleados locales para desempeñar la misma labor. Cincuenta y ocho de los trabajadores volvieron a México en dos autobuses proporcionados por Herzer poco después de que las organizaciones de beneficencia de Glenwood Springs fracasaran en su intento por alojarlos en hoteles. Otros 35 no pudieron ser localizados después de que no se les diera empleo y 10 más permanecían legalmente en el país, dijo Don Kaufman, el abogado de los mexicanos. La empresa Midwest Drywall, que también había sido contemplada en el caso, indicó que una carta presentada por JNS con el Departamento del Trabajo para obtener las visas para los trabajadores no era suya y que nunca había solicitado a los empleados. La orden de Ebel indica que Midwest no es responsable. "Las solicitudes eran fraudulentas y los trabajadores tenían como intermediarios a traficantes de personas", indicó Kaufman a The Associated Press por teléfono el sábado. "Ellos habían venido por una razón, para trabajar".