Howard Industries, the Laurel, Mississippi company that recently paid a multimillion dollar fine for I-9 violations is now facing a civil discrimination lawsuit in connection with the hiring of undocumented workers. From the AP:
A discrimination lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court on behalf of four black women claims the company gave preferential treatment to Latino applicants and workers, many of whom were illegal immigrants from Mexico. The lawsuit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, seeks class-action status.
Immigration agents detained nearly 600 illegal immigrants at Howard Industries’ electrical transformer plant in Laurel in 2008. It was the largest such raid in U.S. history. The company pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to violate immigration laws and was fined $2.5 million.
A woman who answered the phone Monday at Howard Industries declined to give her name and said the company had no comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that one of the plaintiffs, Charlyn Dozier, applied for a job with Howard Industries every three to six months beginning in 2002, but wasn’t offered a position until after the 2008 raid.