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Lesson 03: Legal Aspects of Recruiting, Hiring, and Promotion

L03 Enlisting Day Laborers

Day laborers assemble in parking lots near stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s or on street corners. Most big cities have such a place. The services sought are usually reliant on a proverbial strong back.

Undocumented immigrants not authorized to work in the U.S. are often among those gathered. Many of the arrangements work out fine; however, others result in no payment, dangerous work conditions, no breaks, abuse and untreated injuries. Obviously, the system is informal. Many of the workers are reticent to seek redress because of their illegal status. Some have outstanding warrants. Some mistrust government officials or police officers.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits government restrictions on the rights of people to gather, however, municipalities have attempted to limit assemblages of people looking for day work. Is the cure worse than the disease? By eliminating gathering places, the ability to earn a few dollars is also taken. That does not excuse the overarching factors that make day labor an option for some. Until those factors are resolved, it replaces one mean option with another.

An example of a situation in which a city tried to limit assemblies of people is in the upscale city of Danbury, Connecticut. A cruel stunt was put into play, where a police officer offered work to a group of eight day laborers, got them in a van, and took them to the station to be arrested. $400,000 was paid as a result of this event.

Now that we have discussed types of recruitment, in the next section we will look at how to prove discrimination in cases like these and others.


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