Agency abused OFW Filipino teachers in USA win $4.5 Million Dollars lawsuit

Filipino teachers win $4.5 M in US suit

A US federal jury awarded $4.5 million USD or (₱185,085,004.00) to Filipino teachers who paid large fees to obtain United States jobs through a placement agency.

Jurors on Monday found that Los Angeles-based Universal Placement International Inc. and its owner, Lourdes Navarro, failed to properly disclose the fees for the 350 teachers who were recruited for $40,000-a-year jobs in Louisiana, mostly in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The teachers arrived in the US between 2007 and 2009 under a federal program that grants worker permits to foreigners with special skills. Most went to East Baton Rouge Parish but others went to Caddo, Jefferson and other parishes and to state-run schools in New Orleans.

In 2010, the American Federation of Teachers and the Southern Poverty Law Center sued on behalf of some teachers who complained that before ever leaving the Philippines, they had to borrow money to pay thousands of dollars charged by the company, as much as $16,000 in some cases—five times the average annual household income in the country.

The class-action suit claimed that more unexpected fees and expensive legal entanglements followed once the teachers arrived in the United States. For example, contracts were required in which the teachers agreed to pay a percentage of their monthly income to Universal, along with fees for arranging housing.

Passports and visas were confiscated to ensure the fees would be paid, the lawsuit said.

The suit claimed the threat of huge debt and loss of their visas amounted to forced labor under a federal law against human trafficking passed by Congress in 2000.

After a two-week trial, jurors rejected the human trafficking arguments but found the recruiting agency had negligently misrepresented the fees and violated California laws governing employment agencies and unfair business acts, attorneys for both sides said.

"The jury sent a clear message that exploitative and abusive business practices involving federal guest workers will not be tolerated," Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement.

Don A. Hernandez, a lawyer who represented the company, said there was no intentional wrongdoing by his client regarding disclosure of fees. He called the lawsuit a "witch hunt."

"These teachers voluntarily took on whatever debt they did to pay the fees to come to the United States. They were not forced, the jury found," he said.

Hernandez said he would seek to have the award figure reduced because the Louisiana Workforce Commission earlier awarded return of the same fees. (http://is.gd/Ud5XNI)

Inquirer Global Nation 

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Inside China: PRC paper calls Philippines a ‘clown’

The People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, on Dec. 13 published an editorial that lambasted the Philippines with words that can be described as anything but diplomatic and cordial.

"On the issue of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)," the editorial says, "the Philippines could only be too willing and happy to perform the role of a circus clown as it could only carry out a 'bitch and moan' diplomacy, begging its master [the U.S.] for more money with slavish smiles."

The apparent focus of Beijing's anger was the U.S.-Philippines defense talks in Manila last week.

"At the just concluded U.S.-Philippines conference, the Philippines enthusiastically welcomed its master to send more troops for joint defense. The only thing left to do is to break out the constitutional restriction. After that, the anti-China strength will be enhanced," said the People's Daily editorial, which was reprinted in the domestic subsidiary Global Times.

The editorial also stated that the United States, the purported evil puppet master of the Manila government, is not really happy with the Philippines' performance.

"The master did not seem to be satisfied with the clown's performance during last year's series of acts on the stage of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)," the commentary said, "and the master only gave the clown $30 million for compensation, which upset the clown who regarded it as humiliation."

China routinely calls countries in Southeast Asia that challenge Beijing's sweeping maritime claims in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) "little countries" that lack the sage strategic wisdom Beijing possesses.

Air Force admits deaths by accidents

In a rare public admission of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force's high death toll caused by routine training accidents, the Chinese government recently revealed the existence of a "Heroes' Wall" honoring pilots who "died as martyrs" for the communist revolution.

The PLA Daily on Monday published an article that states: "In the outskirts of Beijing, there is a Chinese Aviation Museum where stands a wing-shaped PLA Air Force Heroes' Wall. On the backside of the wall are the glorious carved names of 1,747 killed pilots and flight officers of the Air Force."

The article does not provide specific numbers on how many pilots died in combat and how many were killed in training exercises, but states that the "overwhelming majority sacrificed their lives in flight training exercises during peace times."

The Chinese air force is known for a high accident rate, which was vividly shown to the world in April 2001 when Wang Wei, the pilot of a Chinese supersonic J-8 interceptor jet, developed a kind of "road rage" and crashed into a U.S. Navy EP-3 signal intelligence plane, forcing the damaged American plane to land inside Chinese territory. The Chinese pilot was killed in the crash.

The PLA article was prompted by, in part, the most recent crash of a Chinese-made J-7 in Guangdong.

The Chinese press openly, and surprisingly, reported the accident, leading military experts to speculate that the air force is facing new orders to shape up from the revamped Central Military Commission, China's ultimate military command authority, chaired by new Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The PLA air force deploys a variety of advanced jets, such as Su-27s, J-10s and J-11s, and outdated, second-generation antiques such as the J-7s. (http://is.gd/Wd1sLL)

The Washington Times

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