Patel v. Sumani Corp., Inc.

660 F. Supp. 1528, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 99, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4194
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedMay 27, 1987
DocketCiv. A. 86-AR-1536-S
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 660 F. Supp. 1528 (Patel v. Sumani Corp., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patel v. Sumani Corp., Inc., 660 F. Supp. 1528, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 99, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4194 (N.D. Ala. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ACKER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Rajni J. Patel brings this action against defendants Sumani Corp., Inc., d/b/a Quality Inn South, Manibhai Patel and Dilip Patel, seeking to recover alleged unpaid minimum wages, alleged unpaid overtime compensation, and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, all pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216, a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended. Patel would invoke this court’s federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The court has for consideration defendants’ motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, F.R.Civ.P.

Undisputed Pertinent Facts

Rajni Patel is a lawyer from India. On or about May 12, 1982, Patel was issued a six-week visitor’s visa by the United States. On June 1, 1982, Patel arrived in the United States. Patel lived with his cousin who operated the Gaslight Motel while in New Orleans. Patel admits that his visitor’s visa expired on or about June 20,1982, and thereafter that he has remained illegally within this country. On or about July 11, 1983, Patel came to Birmingham, Alabama, and stayed at the Quality Inn South. Defendant Sumani at that time leased and managed the Quality Inn South. Patel claims he came to Birmingham to work for defendants Manibhai and Dilip Patel who are not related to Rajni Patel. Manibhai and Dilip, who at that time were the majority stockholders of Sumani, claim that Patel *1529 was never employed by either them, by the Quality Inn South, or by Sumani, and that they simply permitted Patel to stay at the motel as a favor to Patel’s cousin and to hide Patel from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

While Patel was at the Quality Inn South, he did perform some work for Sumani. Sumani claims that it paid him as an “independent contractor”. Neither social security taxes, federal and state taxes nor unemployment compensation taxes were deducted from what Patel was paid. Patel left the Quality Inn South on or about October 27, 1985 and returned to New Orleans. On August 19, 1986 Patel filed this action.

Defendants not only deny Patel’s claim on its merits but assert that as an illegal alien Patel has no claim under the FLSA.

Conclusions of Law

Congress, in the FLSA, as amended, requires every employer engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce to pay each employee a minimum wage as periodically established by Congress. 29 U.S.C. § 206. In addition, Congress requires employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, if they use their employees in excess of forty hours per week, to compensate them at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. 29 U.S.C. § 207. Under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), an employer who violates the provisions of §§ 206 and 207 is “liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages or their unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages”. Section 203(e)(1) states that “the term ‘employee’ means any individual employed by an employer”. Defendants do not contest that they would qualify as “employers” under the Act, although each defendant denies that Patel was ever an “employee”.

None of the parties to this action has located any decided case that specifically addresses the question presented here, namely, whether or not an illegal and undocumented alien can enforce the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA while an illegal alien. By order dated March 24, 1987, this court requested that the United States Department of Labor file a statement of position on whether or not an admittedly illegal alien has standing to complain of alleged violations of the wage and hour provisions of the FLSA. The Department of Labor filed its statement of position on April 7, 1987, taking the position that illegal aliens can enforce the wage and hour provisions of the FLSA. In its statement, the Department of Labor cites no case and no legislative history in support of its position. Thereafter, by telephone call to the court’s law clerk, the Department of Labor brought to the court’s attention In re Reyes, 814 F.2d 168 (5th Cir.1987), in which the Fifth Circuit on March 30, 1987 says, without citing a single authority:

[I]t is well established that the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act are applicable to citizens and aliens alike and whether the alien is documented or undocumented is irrelevant.

814 F.2d at 170.

Judge Edith Jones dissented in Reyes. This court agrees with Judge Jones when she says:

I also take issue with the majority’s conclusion that ... the Fair Labor Standards Act do[es] not distinguish between citizens and illegal alien employees. Previously, no court has explicitly permitted an undocumented alien to recover the damages and penalties provided for in th[is] statute[].

841 F.2d at 171.

Judge Jones is entirely correct in noting that the majority was taking a position without precedent. Why are there no decided cases on this subject when there have undoubtedly been millions of illegal aliens employed in this country for years at less than the minimum wage? 1 The logical rea *1530 son is that no illegal alien ever entertained the thought he was entitled to invoke the FLSA until the recent era of amnesty, when Patel was emboldened to “come out of the closet,” so to speak. It is difficult to think that since the FLSA was adopted years ago no lawyer has ever filed a suit on behalf of an employed illegal alien, that is, unless the multitalented and hungry legal profession unanimously shared the view of Judge Jones.

Another reason for siding with Judge Jones in Reyes is that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359 (codified in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C.), provides that undocumented aliens who can demonstrate that they have lived here prior to January 1, 1982, are now eligible for legalization. The Act clearly makes it illegal to hire unauthorized aliens after November 6, 1986, and provides sanctions effective June 1, 1987, against an employer to enforce this provision. An article by Vernon M. Briggs, professor in the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, appearing on the editorial page of The Birmingham News on May 19,1987, accurately describes the new Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 as one which “bans for the first time discrimination in employment against non-citizens”. This means, of course, that prior to 1986, non-citizens were discriminated against in employment as a matter of public policy.

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660 F. Supp. 1528, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 99, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patel-v-sumani-corp-inc-alnd-1987.