Olvera-Morales v. International Labor Management Corp.

246 F.R.D. 250, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83235, 90 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,019, 102 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 410, 2007 WL 3355415
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedNovember 7, 2007
DocketNo. 1:05CV00559
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 246 F.R.D. 250 (Olvera-Morales v. International Labor Management Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olvera-Morales v. International Labor Management Corp., 246 F.R.D. 250, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83235, 90 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,019, 102 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 410, 2007 WL 3355415 (M.D.N.C. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

N. CARLTON TILLEY, JR., District Judge.

This case arises out of a dispute concerning the recruitment of temporary foreign workers pursuant to the H-2A and H-2B visa guest worker programs. The matter is now before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification [Doc. #57] and Defendants’ Motions for Leave to File a Surreply [Doc. # # 87, 88]. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion for Class Certification is GRANTED and the Motions for Leave to File a Surreply are DENIED.

I.

The H-2A and H-2B visa guest worker programs provide a legal means by which foreign workers can obtain temporary unskilled employment in the United States. The H-2A program authorizes the seasonal employment of foreign workers under speci[253]*253fied conditions to perform agricultural work, such as planting, weeding, harvesting, and related tasks. The H-2B program authorizes the employment of foreign workers to perform various non-agrieultural work, such as seafood processing, landscape labor, housekeeping, and fishing.

In addition to the differing work assignments, the H-2A and H-2B programs also confer different benefits. The benefits associated with the H-2A visa include: (1) a guarantee that the worker will receive 75% of the work hours promised; (2) free housing; (3) travel reimbursement; (4) an employment contract; and (5) the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, which insures that the presence of foreign workers does not negatively impact wages paid to the local American workforce. Under the H-2B visa, on the other hand, workers are guaranteed only that their pay will be consistent with the prevailing wage for the assigned locality. An H-2B worker must pay for housing and transportation, and has no employment contract or work guarantee.

Defendant International Labor Management Corporation, Inc. (“ILMC”) is a North Carolina corporation that assists its clients in locating and processing foreign workers, usually from Mexico, under the H-2A and H-2B programs. ILMC’s clients consist of both agricultural and non-agrieultural businesses throughout the United States. Defendant North Carolina Grower’s Association, Inc. (“NCGA”) is a non-profit North Carolina corporation that assists North Carolina farm entity members in locating and processing foreign workers solely under the H-2A program. ILMC and NCGA’s visa processing function focuses on the requirements from “the U.S. end.” ILMC and NCGA were both founded by C. Stanford Eury and are located in Vass, North Carolina.

Defendant Del-AI Associates, Inc. (“Del-AI”) is a Texas corporation located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Del-AI locates Mexican workers for its clients and processes the H-2A and H-2B visa applications from the “Mexican end.” Del-AI essentially serves as a liaison between employers or associations in the United States and recruiters in Mexico. Del-AI was founded by Jorge del Alamo and is currently run by his son, Juan del Alamo.

Del-AI has recruited and procured H-2A and H-2B workers on behalf of ILMC and NCGA. Generally, ILMC and NCGA are contacted by its clients/members with requests for a certain number of agricultural or non-agrieultural workers. Employer clients/members of ILMC and NCGA would often request that specific workers from the prior season be rehired; these workers are called “preferred workers.” After collecting all relevant information from the client/member, ILMC and NCGA would advertise the positions in the applicable area. If the positions remained unfilled, ILMC and NCGA would follow the procedures necessary to obtain foreign workers and engage Del-AI, or another third-party, to locate and recruit the needed workers. Del-AI would pass the relevant information along to recruiters in Mexico, who would attempt to locate and rehire any preferred workers and fill all remaining positions with interested Mexican citizens.

Plaintiff Marcela Olvera-Morales, a Mexican citizen who resides in Ecatepac, Mexico, was recruited to work in the United States under the H-2B visa program by agents of Del-AI on behalf of ILMC. Ms. Olvera-Morales was initially assigned to a Michigan vegetable processing company called Veg-Cut on June 20, 1999. In November 1999, she was transferred to an onion farm and onion processing facility in upstate New York, where she worked until she was dismissed in February 2000.1 Ms. Olvera-Morales was qualified to work in an H-2A position and would have preferred such an assignment because of its preferable benefits. Even though there were men with similar or lesser qualifications that were recruited by Defendants for H-2A positions, Ms. Olvera-Morales was neither offered such a position nor informed that such positions existed.

[254]*254ILMC has recruited 1,922 women for H-2B positions from 1999 through 2006, which represents 11.3% of the total 17,084 H-2B workers it recruited. By contrast, the 2,084 women recruited for H-2A positions by both ILMC and NCGA represents 2.2% of the total 93,872 H-2A workers they recruited over the same time period. Similarly, between 1999 and 2006, Del-AI has recruited 4,684 women for H-2B positions, which represents 13.9% of the total 33,637 H-2B workers it recruited. The 1,040 women Del-AI recruited for H-2A positions represents 2.1 % of the total 48,619 H-2A workers it recruited over that period.2

Ms. Olvera-Morales initiated this action, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York on December 23, 2002, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York Human Rights Law. [Doc. # 1.] She seeks injunctive relief, declaratory relief, compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees. On June 15, 2005, following the dismissal of the New York defendants, the case was transferred to the Middle District of North Carolina. [Doc. # 11.] Ms. Olvera-Morales filed a Motion for Class Certification on February 15, 2007. [Doc. # 57.] The proposed class consists of “[a]ll female H-2B workers recruited, procured or referred for employment by the Defendants or their agents, or whose H-2B employment opportunity was procured by Defendants or their agents, from 1999 to the present.” At the close of briefing, Defendants filed Motions for Leave to File a Surreply (Doc. # # 87, 88), and Ms. OlveraMorales has responded in opposition. These matters are now ripe for consideration.

II.

Defendants have moved for leave to file a surreply to: (1) respond to Ms. Olvera-Morales’ argument that Defendants’ brief in opposition to class certification was “replete with misrepresentations of fact and misstatements of law,” and created a “legal red herring”; (2) rebut the expert report of Dr. Griffin filed in response to Defendants’ expert report; (3) rebut Ms. Olvera-Morales’ alleged contention that she was not seeking compensatory damages; and (4) rebut the assertion by attorney Andrew Stillufsen that certain workers recruited by ILMC were mistakenly listed by incorrect names in the list it provided Ms. Olvera-Morales.

Surreplies are generally disfavored, and such a filing is not justified in this case. See Hill-Rom Servs., Inc. v. Versus Tech., Inc., No. 1:03CV1227, 2005 WL 1743917, *1 (M.D.N.C. July 12, 2005). First, the perceived disparaging remarks in Ms. OlveraMorales’ reply do not warrant leave to file a surreply. To the extent that such comments “cast aspersions on counsel’s ethics and professionalism,” they have been disregarded by the Court.

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246 F.R.D. 250, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83235, 90 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,019, 102 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 410, 2007 WL 3355415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olvera-morales-v-international-labor-management-corp-ncmd-2007.