In a victory for migrant workers, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled today in an SPLC case that a Haitian immigrant injured in company-provided housing is entitled to compensation for his injuries and lost wages.
In a victory for migrant workers, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled today in an SPLC case that a Haitian immigrant injured in company-provided housing is entitled to compensation for his injuries and lost wages.
Frantz Pierre, a migrant farmworker from Haiti, was denied compensation by the South Carolina Worker’s Compensation Commission after falling and breaking his right ankle outside company housing. He had just arrived at the 400-acre tomato farm owned by Seaside Farms on St. Helena Island when he slipped on a wet sidewalk outside the workers’ barrack-like dormitory. After the Southern Poverty Law Center took legal action on Pierre’s behalf, the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed Pierre's right to compensation and sent the case back to the lower court.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit against the town of Homer, La., and two of its former police officers on behalf of the family of an elderly black man who was shot to death by one of the officers while standing harmlessly on his front porch.
In one of the largest settlements of its kind, an Arkansas forestry company has agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle the legal claims of foreign guestworkers who say they were cheated out of the wages they earned planting trees for the company.
Bernard Monroe Sr., an elderly black man, was shot to death on his front porch by a white police officer who had entered his house in Homer, La., without apparent justification or a warrant. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a wrongful death lawsuit that alleged two white officers created a volatile situation when they entered Monroe’s property during a gathering of his family and friends on Feb. 20, 2009. A settlement agreement was reached with the town in August 2010.