On December 13, 2007, the United Farm Workers and Farmworker Justice, two worker advocacy groups, filed suit against the U.S. Department of Labor under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). Plaintiffs alleged that the Department failed to release public information about employers who have used the H-2A visa program to hire foreign guest workers instead of U.S. workers. Plaintiffs asserted that they had made 7 separate FOIA requests, some nearly a year ago, which the Department either ignored or responded to in a deficient manner. Plaintiffs alleged that the FOIA requests were made in order to uncover documents which they believe will show employer abuses in the H-2A program.

At the time of this summary, the case had just been filed and the Department of Labor had not yet formally answered the charges against it.

Dan Dalton - 12/21/2007


compress summary