Hundreds of Filipino guest workers lured to teach in Louisiana public schools were cheated out of tens of thousands of dollars and forced into exploitative contracts by an international trafficking ring run by labor contractors, according to a class action lawsuit filed on Aug. 5 by the AFT and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 350 Filipino teachers working in Louisiana under the federal H-1B guest-worker program. It accuses officials from two labor contractors—Universal Placement International, based in Los Angeles, and its sister organization, Manila-based PARS International Placement Agency—of human trafficking, racketeering and fraud. The suit also names as defendants the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, school district officials and California lawyer Robert Silverman.
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