Indian workers win $20 million settlement against US company

The agreement has been reached to resolve numerous labour trafficking lawsuits against Signal International that was found liable by a federal jury

About 200 Indian workers, brought to the US by an American firm to repair oil rigs damaged by hurricane Katrina, have won a $20-million settlement against the company for defrauding and exploiting them. This is one of the largest labour trafficking cases in the history of the US.

An agreement was reached to resolve numerous labour trafficking lawsuits against Signal International, which a federal jury found liable for defrauding and exploiting workers it lured from India. The Alabama-based company will also issue an apology to the workers, brought to the US to be employed as welders, pipe-fitters, etc, to repair oil rigs and other facilities damaged by the 2005 hurricane.

Each worker allegedly paid the recruiters and a lawyer between $10,000 and $20,000 in recruitment fees and other costs after the recruiters promised good jobs, green cards and permanent US residency for them and their families. Most sold property or plunged their families deeply into debt to pay the fees, according to a statement by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights law firm that spearheaded the lawsuits.

However, when the men arrived from India in 2006, they discovered they would not receive the green cards or permanent residency promised to them.

Also, the company allegedly forced each of them to pay $1,050 a month for accommodation in “isolated, guarded labour camps” where as many as 24 men were cramped into small rooms. None of the company’s non-Indian workers were required to live in such conditions.

Signal has filed for bankruptcy protection and the agreement, once approved, would resolve the 11 lawsuits against it representing about 200 Indian workers.

“These workers have waited seven long years for justice. This agreement and apology from the company will allow the workers to finally move on with their lives. It also serves as a warning to companies that might exploit guest workers,” said Jim Knoepp, SPLC’s deputy legal director.

In February, a federal jury in New Orleans had awarded $14 million in damages to five Indian guest workers represented by the SPLC, after finding the company and its agents had engaged in labour trafficking, fraud, racketeering and discrimination.

The jury also found one of the plaintiffs was a victim of false imprisonment and retaliation.