A San Francisco federal jury awarded Macan Singh, an illegal Indian immigrant, $200,000 in damages after his uncle and employer, Charanjit Jutla, reported him to the INS one day after Singh signed an out-of-court settlement against Jutla in 1999.  The jury found that Jutla was liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code and ordered him to pay $40,000 in compensatory damages and $160,000 in punitive damages.  

According to a press release from the LAC Employment Law Center, Jutla arranged for his nephew to be illegally trafficked into the United States in 1995.  From 1995 to 1999, he forced Singh to work 12-hour, seven-day work weeks without pay.  Singh filed a claim with the California Labor Commission in 1999 and was awarded $70,000 in an out-of-court settlement.  Jutla reported Singh the next day.

This holding is the first case in California where a jury awarded damages to an illegal immigrant who suffered from retaliation after asserting his rights since the Supreme Court’s March 2002 holding that denied back pay to an illegal immigrant.

The Singh case can be distinguished from the March 2002 holding in that when an illegal immigrant is reported to the INS with a retaliatory motive, the court will find an otherwise legal act to be one that violates federal and state law.  Singh is currently in deportation proceedings.