EEOC Combats Labor Trafficking, Severe Abuse and Discrimination in Lawsuits Filed Today [USA]
A labor broker in California, farms in Hawaii and Washington, and a marine services company in Mississippi and Texas subjected foreign workers to severe abuse and discrimination after they were trafficked into this country, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in three lawsuits filed today. These lawsuits follow a Commission meeting, held Jan. 19, 2011, on the issue of human trafficking and forced labor...Jacqueline A. Berrien, Chair of the EEOC [said,] “These lawsuits highlight the critically important role that the EEOC must play in protecting the rights of victims of labor trafficking.”...[Some brought to work on farms by Global Horizons were] forced into vermin-ridden housing, denied the opportunity to leave the premises, and subjected to harassment, including physical assaults, by their overseers. [also refers to Signal International]