Immigrants Sue Wendys

The one individual had been working at Wendy's for nine years? He had also been in the country for fourteen. How many of those years was he an illegal alien?

The law firm should be 100% responsible for any damages, and should have to, at the least, return all monies, plus interest. There should also be a review of the law firm, and it's practices, by the bar association of the state. This is gross misconduct on the part of the attornies tasked with the project.

In the meantime, the now illegal aliens should be deported. They should be allowed back for the trial, at the company's expense, and returned to their country of origin after the trials conclusion. This is more than any other country would do for an American citizen caught in the same situation.:cool:
 
In the meantime, the now illegal aliens should be deported. They should be allowed back for the trial, at the company's expense, and returned to their country of origin after the trials conclusion. This is more than any other country would do for an American citizen caught in the same situation.
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Sorry JR47, but I completely disagree with the last part of your post. These immigrants were legal and were on track to becoming fully legalized until the attorneys dropped the ball. Why should they face deportation?

I believe that INS should consider reverting them back to the legal status they had before the attorneys fouled things up. The attorneys should be forced to pay for all court costs and fees involved, and compensate the employees for lost wages. There will probably even be a punitive fine against the attorneys (and there darned well should be) for their failure to perform their duties. We are talking about people's the legal status and their financial well being (not to mention all of the people they are probably supporting back home). Ooops I forgot is not an acceptable excuse.
 
Stephen-
The problem is that Americans like things simple....and we have very short memories. Thus, we are easily deluded into assuming that every non-American working in this nation must, somehow, be "illegal". And that the rest of us, somehow, date back on this continent to Time Immemorial.

Thanks for providing fair juxtaposition from the employer's viewpoint.
;)
Rich
 
Mr. Lucibella,
What makes you think they were legal prior to the said deadline? Everything to me seems to indicate the opposite.

HOUSTON — A group of illegal immigrants who worked for Wendy's International Inc. is suing the restaurant chain because the company fired them after discovering it had missed a deadline for joining a federal program that would have helped them attain legal status.
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This says to me that they were illegal PRIOR to this deadline and were illegal all along. Otherwise why would there be anyneed to "attain legal status"

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The lawsuit, filed Friday in state district court in Houston, is a companion to a similar class-action suit filed last month in Dallas against Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's, its subsidiary Cafe Express and the Houston-based business law firm Boyar & Miller.

The immigrants, who worked for Cafe Express, are seeking unspecified damages.

Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal immigrants say they were fired after the company recently found that Boyar & Miller, the law firm Wendy's had hired, never filed paperwork for a 2001 legalization program that allowed immigrants with employer sponsorship or an American spouse to apply for citizenship
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Again, why have a "legalization program" if the people it affects are already here legally (such as the 40 in this article)? This sounds like one of those Federal governmet cop-out programs that says "we can't do anything about illegal problem, but we want their vote" solutions to make illegals legal and give them amnesty (without calling it amnesty) These 40 illegals that got fired missed their chance at the loophole and now they are suing for it.

I say again, what nerve
 
Good Lord, son, I NEVER claimed they came here legally.

What I questioned was the knee-jerk that they musta come here illegally. Obviously they weren't illegal at the point they were working (above the table) for Wendy's. At least one, for NINE years. Are you not aware that LEGAL aliens are regularly employed in this Nation?

What on earth does it matter whether they were legal before of after that employment. Clearly they were complying with US Law, working daily and paying the legal fees necessary to keep working legally under US Law.

Where on earth is the transgression that would deserve, from us, such disdain, shock and horror that they would have the temerity to sue a company and law firm for what is admittedly a clear breach of LEGAL contract?
Rich
 
Good Lord, son, I NEVER claimed they came here legally.

What I questioned was the knee-jerk that they musta come here illegally. Obviously they weren't illegal at the point they were working (above the table) for Wendy's. At least one, for NINE years. Are you not aware that LEGAL aliens are regularly employed in this Nation?
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The article seems to indicate pretty plainly, as I read it, that they were never were legal. Nothing knee-jerk about it.

Sure there are plenty of people that come here legally on a visa or such. Our yardman is one of the hardest working decent men we have ever met. Comes from Mexico. He is here LEGALLY. Fine and dandy.
These 40 are not among those people. They have broken the law by being here.

What on earth does it matter whether they were legal before of after that employment. Clearly they were complying with US Law, working daily and paying the legal fees necessary to keep working legally under US Law.
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That is an oxymoron. Because they are here illegally, clearly they are NOT complying with the law.

Where on earth is the transgression that would deserve, from us, such disdain, shock and horror that they would have the temerity to sue a company and law firm for what is admittedly a clear breach of LEGAL contract?
Rich
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Well this whole idea that "we have to find a way to make these people citizens" is a cop-out and a politically motivated tactic used by Dems & Reps alike. It's rubbish. The Legal contract you speak of is a missed chance at the mentioned 2001 legalization program loophole (which I regard as a joke). This group missed it because the company didn't pursue it. And now they are being sued. I regard this as I would a low life governor granting pardons to criminals and fugatives for political votes
 
Well this whole idea that "we have to find a way to make these people citizens" is a cop-out and a politically motivated tactic used by Dems & Reps alike. It's rubbish
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Well then argue against that idea somewhere like Democratic Underground. No one is promoting it here, which makes your comments something of a non-sequitur.

This particular thread is about whether these people have standing to sue. They do. Get over it.
Rich
 
Caveat Emptor

An unfortunate lesson in knowing what you're buying before you write the check. Most of this turmoil is from Cafe Express, a relatively small operation they purchased while they were snapping up other companies (Baja Express, Tim Hortons, etc).

Having worked at their corporate HQ in Ohio on and off for the last 5 years, I will state unequivocally that the Wendy's folks are a great bunch of people, one of the best I've ever worked with actually. They have a ton of community programs for kids, Dave Thomas' Foundation for Adoption (for whom they auctioned off an OCC chopper recently), etc. While I never met him in person, Dave Thomas really set a tone there, and was a much better leader than the campy guy on TV would have ever led you to believe.
 
Wendy's broke the law

Bust Wendy's and Cafe Express for hiring illegals, The fine pays the illegals back plus other costs; [court etc.] Give them a bus ride back to Mexico and let them come back legally this time. Other good immigrants are waiting to do this the right way. They should not be brought to the head of the line. Companies have got to be held accountable for their greed.
 
Hell,,, why don't we just drop all the immigration laws period. Let anyone in with no penalties , restrictions or rules. Read the statement on the statue of liberty,, from the French, no less.." Give me your tired, homeless etc,,, well we are getting them by the boatload..I am too old to care anymore, but the day will come to recon with our allowances, Political correctness and liberal views. Yes it will,, sooner or later and probably sooner. And we will have another failed economy and Country.
 
I think I agree with Buckster.
Illegal is illegal weather it was in the hiring or illegal immigration.
Are we a nation of laws or not?
 
Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal immigrants say they were fired after the company recently found that Boyar & Miller, the law firm Wendy's had hired, never filed paperwork for a 2001 legalization program that allowed immigrants with employer sponsorship or an American spouse to apply for citizenship
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I am not a lawyer and I do not play on either on TV or here. But there's a phrase in there that I do recognize as having a bearing on this debate, and that is "immigrants with employer sponsorship" Companies can sponsor people from other countries, yes, including Mexico, for work here in the U.S. It is not at ALL clear from the article that these people snuck over the border, went to work for Cafe Express, and then took advantage of some legalization program. Rather, it implies that they came here as sponsored employees.

Now that may be mistaken. But those who are on their high horses about these "illegal aliens" might also be mistaken.

If they came here as sponsored employees, and through some federal program were given a chance to go from sponsored employees to citizens, and if Cafe Express/Wendy's then did not follow through, but rather kept their money that they had paid to be a part of this program, then Cafe Express/Wendy's is liable, the defrauded workers have a right to sue, and this one issue, believe it or not, is not about illegal aliens and how they don't belong here. Not this time.

God knows there are enough people who really are here illegally, who really don't give a flip for playing by our rules. Some of them are violent criminals, some are not. But these workers WERE TRYING TO PLAY BY OUR RULES AND WERE SCREWED OUT OF THEIR MONEY.

They have standing to sue, Doug. Moreover, they have a RIGHT to expect recompense. Build a bridge and get over it.


Springmom
 
Would all of you guys who keep claiming that those employees all came over illegally READ THE STINKING ARTICLE BEFORE SPOUTING OFF YOU KNEE JERK REACTIONS???

Wendy's was LEGALLY EMPLOYING those employees up until the point where the ATTORNEYS SCREWED UP AND DID NOT FILE THE NECESSARY PAPERWORK TO KEEP THEM LEGAL!!! The attorneys failed to do a job they were PAID TO DO and we should just ship those employees off because of the attorneys' mistakes?

Lets look at it another way. Say you fill out your W-4 and properly put your tax withholding (Married with 4 dependents for example). Lets say some idiot in the payroll department made a typo and keyed in 14 dependants. You payroll withholding goes down to nothing and you end up not paying your proper taxes. Lets say the IRS finds your 14 dependents kind of fishy and decide to audit you. You now owe back taxes and penalties because someone screwed up?

While owing taxes is a serious issue, we are talking about something far more serious. We are talking about someone losing their right to stay in this country when they have been paying attorneys to file their paperwork for them. Can you guys understand that?

I hate to say it but I am really sensing some pent up hatred for immigrants (legal and illegal) and possibly even some serious racism. This country is made up of immigrants and many of these immigrants are very hard working individuals who value their right to be in this country much more than most people who were born in this country. Many people complain that immigrants come here and take their jobs. If those people cared more about their jobs and their companies, no one could replace them.

Lets revisit the FACTS of this case as stated in the article and leave the kneejerk reactions and racism out of this. The attorneys had an obligation to those employees and they seriously dropped the ball. The employees should not have to suffer for those mistakes and the atorneys who fouled up should.
 
stephen426, great idea... let's review the facts:

These employees were initially illegal immigrants.

This country has a (boneheaded) program whereby illegal immigrants can somehow achieve legal immigrant status if a corporation (presumably after it becomes aware that it is employing illegals) enters the illegal immigrants into the program.

Through the program, the illegal immigrants become legal immigrants.

I don't see anything suggesting this is a case of work visas or anything of that sort.

However, they are probably right to sue... they were paying for legal services which were never rendered. That doesn't mitigate the stupidity of our having a federal amnesty program for company-sponsored illegal immigrants.

This country is made up of immigrants and many of these immigrants are very hard working individuals who value their right to be in this country much more than most people who were born in this country.
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It would be wonderful if the U.S. could simply accept any foreigner who wants to immigrate. That's just not feasible or equitable to the people already here, for a bunch of reasons that you're ignoring. Consequently, we have a defined immigration process. Illegal alien amnesty programs are an abomination, an end-run against that defined immigration process.

Of course there are potential immigrants who would be more productive here than many U.S. citizens are. There are also potential immigrants who value our freedoms more than most U.S. citizens.

So what? You want to let any gainfully-employed illegal immigrant stay in the country? Why stop there? Let's revoke citizenship of, and deport, any citizens who have been on welfare for more than 2 years. If we're going to let "good" illegal immigrants stay, why not force "bad" citizens out?
 
tyme said:
These employees were initially illegal immigrants.

This country has a (boneheaded) program whereby illegal immigrants can somehow achieve legal immigrant status if a corporation (presumably after it becomes aware that it is employing illegals) enters the illegal immigrants into the program.

Through the program, the illegal immigrants become legal immigrants.
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tyme,

Maybe I am misinterprting this but those immigrants may well have come into the country legally. Whether they became illegal because their visas expired is another matter. The company I work for has sponsered many immigrants and helped them receive their green cards. Many of these people were students (F-1 practical training) and some were brought over on with special skills (H1-B). In addition, some married an American citizen which qualifies them for the K-1 visa. Basically, there are many ways for immigrants to come into the country legally and you are assuming that those employees all came into this country illegally

Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal immigrants say they were fired after the company recently found that Boyar & Miller, the law firm Wendy's had hired, never filed paperwork for a 2001 legalization program that allowed immigrants with employer sponsorship or an American spouse to apply for citizenship.
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I don't see anything suggesting this is a case of work visas or anything of that sort.
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Please refer to the above bolded excerpt from the article.

So what? You want to let any gainfully-employed illegal immigrant stay in the country? Why stop there? Let's revoke citizenship of, and deport, any citizens who have been on welfare for more than 2 years. If we're going to let "good" illegal immigrants stay, why not force "bad" citizens out?
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Please don't misunderstand my posts or carry my thoughts further than what I have written. I do not condone illegal immigration at all. I am basing my position that those employees were LEGALLY employed by Wendy's while they were trying to establish full legal status. If the company I worked for failed to complete the immigration forms for some of our employees, they would become illegal. While it would be great to deport our useless citizens, they have the full rights and priveleges of all American citizens. That was never suggested by the way... except by you.

It would be wonderful if the U.S. could simply accept any foreigner who wants to immigrate. That's just not feasible or equitable to the people already here, for a bunch of reasons that you're ignoring.
Furthermore, I fully understand that it is not feasible to have totally open borders. I'm not ignoring any of the reasons since I never called for open immigration.

While I can understand (and fully agree) that it is unfair to simply legalize illegal aliens, we need to come up with a feasible solution. There are an estimated 8 - 12 million illegal aliens in the US right now. Lets just load 'em all up and ship them off. Lets see what happens to our economy? We need these workers that often take jobs no one else will do (and they often do them better).

I offered the solution of cracking down on employers. What solutions do you propose?

p.s. whether or not you agree with the federal amnesty program is irrelavent to this arguement. The law was in place and they were taking advantage of it. They were legal until the lawyers screwed up, period.
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tyme,

I will share the story of one of my employees. He came to this country from El Salvador when there was a civil war. Here is a good article to read up on if you care to. He was LEGALLY admitted along with his wife more than 16 years ago as political refugees (you probably don't agree with this policy either). Many of his friends and some of his family members were killed.

He was been granted temporary residency card and work permit on a yearly basis. Despite his working here (and paying taxes) and living here for 16 years, the government had the right to not renew his residency and work permit and deport him. We helped him get a green card and he is one of our hardest working employees. He does not have to worry that he will be deported and leave the home he has created here for the past 16 years... of which he was FULLY LEGAL during the ENTIRE TIME.

Now say we were his attorneys and were responsible for filing his renewal forms in a timely manner. If we screwed up, he would immediately become illegal. We could just say that since he has no legal status here in the U.S., he cannot sue those who failed to perform their duties.

Do you kind of see my point now?
 
The AP article is very sketchy, and seems to have gotten some things wrong (talks about citizenship rather than permanent residency). Try this one:
http://www.lawcash.com/attorney/4915/cafe-express-wendys-international-lawsuit.asp

If they'd arrived on some sort of legitimate visa, I haven't found that mentioned anywhere. I admit I don't know much about running small or mid-sized companies, but why would a small restaurant chain like Cafe Express sponsor visas? For that matter, why would Wendy's, unless you're talking about management or infrastructure? Doesn't a company have to have particular skillset needs before it can sponsor immigrant visas?

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2004/02/02/daily6.html
Wendy's seems to have invested in Cafe Express in 2002, and got a majority stake in 2004. Based on the first article, Cafe Express, a much smaller, regional chain, started the legalization process by itself in 2000 or early 2001.

You and Rich can argue it however you want. Unless someone comes up with an article detailing how they got into the country, I'll remain convinced that they came here illegally and were illegal until they -- miraculously -- got a break due to our !#(%&!#% Congress passing amnesty legislation. That the lawyers screwed up their amnesty application is appalling, but they shouldn't have been here in the first place.

Solution? Build the fence. Consider canceling amnesty programs. I don't like the idea of threatening people and companies employing (or considering employing) illegals with severe sanctions unless they turn the illegals into the INS, but what else can we do? Something has to be done to deal with illegal immigrants who are already here. A fair number of them are up to no good, from crime to abusing social programs.

Maybe deporting them will have significant economic consequences. I don't think it would be catastrophic. Anything too expensive to produce here can be imported. That's not ideal, for a lot of reasons, but neither is letting illegal immigrants stay here... not only for the reasons identified above, but because it encourages others to try to get here illegally if they know we won't put much effort into deporting them.
 
The entire question here is whether they have a moral right to expect recompense. Nobody is arguing that illegal aliens should be allowed into this nation. But the law cuts both ways; the same laws that will deport them if illegal should protect them if legally working thru channels for residency or citizenship.

It's not about whether those laws are dysfunctional; they are. It's all about whether these foreigners have a right to expect damages; they do.
Rich
 
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