…[Three immigrant workers] have filed a federal lawsuit against the landscaping company, [Tennessee]-based Outdoors Unlimited, accusing them of trafficking immigrants for the purpose of forced labor. They are also seeking wages they said they were denied…

In its legal filings, the company has denied that the men were not paid for hours worked and disputed cell phone snapshots of timecards provided…showing more hours worked than reflected in his paychecks…[saying that] the time card system it used was "incredibly inaccurate"…

Immigration attorneys and advocates say that [there is] a demand for workers to fill landscaping, construction, hotel, housecleaning and other jobs…In many cases, employers are bringing in workers from rural areas or other countries to pay them lower wages, [one of the claimant’s lawyer] said…

A March 2018 trial date has been set in U.S. District Court in Middle Tennessee.