Mexico urges Latino janitors to join class-action suit

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Monday, March 15, 2004 10:42 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- The Mexican Consulate in San Diego lent its support Monday to a campaign asking janitors, many of whom are Mexican immigrants, to join a class-action lawsuit against several of the state's largest supermarket chains.

Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a Latino rights organization, filed the lawsuit on behalf of janitors who worked at Albertson's, Ralphs and Vons markets. It alleges that the stores unlawfully treated the workers as independent contractors.

By treating the janitors as contractors, the supermarkets avoided paying them millions of dollars each year in benefits, overtime and other wages, the attorneys said.

The lawsuit is expected to go to trial in mid-June. Recently, advocates asked Mexican officials for their support in searching for Latino janitors who worked at the supermarkets between 1994 and 2003, some of whom may have returned to Mexico.

The Mexican consul general in San Diego said Mexican nationals who were employed by the supermarkets should join the case.

"This lawsuit is important because it involves large numbers of our nationals, and because it insists that their rights be respected regardless of their legal status," said Consul General Luis Cabrera Cuaron at a press conference held in his San Diego office.

Attorneys for the supermarkets did not return calls for comment.

Advocates for the janitors said there were 700 workers who have been listed in the lawsuit, but they said there may be hundreds more eligible.

Many of them may be hesitant to call because they are working illegally in the country, said Lilia Esther Garcia, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a Los Angeles-based legal aid group that took part in investigating the allegations.

"We need to continue to be courageous," Garcia said. "We have had many people come forward and nothing has happened to those workers."

Steven Joaquin Reyes, an attorney for the Mexican American legal aid group, said the workers do not have to be fearful because the judge in the case has already ruled that the workers' immigration status is not relevant to the issue of whether they were paid fairly.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles two years ago and is expected to reach trial June 15. Federal District Court Judge Percy Anderson gave potential class members until April 16 to join the lawsuit.

About 2,000 janitors who worked at the supermarkets between January 1994 and January 2003 may be eligible to join, Reyes said. Several hundred of the janitors are believed to have worked at San Diego County supermarkets, advocates said.

The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 1994 the supermarkets began hiring janitors indirectly through contractors, such as Building One Service Solutions Inc., Encompass and others. The contractors allegedly paid the janitors in cash or with personal checks, without payroll tax deductions or Social Security deductions.

Potential class members were asked to call the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund at (888) 546-7439. From Mexico, call (001 888) 546-7439.

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.