Remedies for undocumented noncitizens in the workplace: Using international law to narrow the holding of Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB

Minnesota Law Review

Volumn 92, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 1424-1445

  Weissbrodt, David ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA LAW SCHOOL   (United States)

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EID: 46749140611     PISSN: 00265535     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (173)

1. 535 U.S. 137, 140-41 (2002).
2. Id. at 151.
3. See Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. Advisory Op. OC-18/03, at 113 (Sept. 17, 2003), available at http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/opiniones/seriea_18_ing.pdf [hereinafter Advisory Opinion OC-18/03];
4. Int'l Labor Org. [ILO], Comm. on Freedom of Ass'n, Complaints Against the Government of the United States Presented by the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), Report No. 332, Case No. 2227, Vol. LXXXVI, 2003, Series B, No. 3 (Oct. 18, 2002).
5. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 106.
6. E.g., Madeira v. Affordable Hous. Found., Inc., 469 F.3d 219, 248-49 (2d Cir. 2006).
7. E.g., Oro v. 23 E. 79th St. Corp., 810 N.Y.S.2d 779, 783 (App. Div. 2005). The Supreme Court's refusal to find undocumented noncitizens a suspect class may also hinder plaintiffs' attempts to gain relief for discrimination on the basis of their immigration status.
8. See Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 219 n.19 (1982);
9. see also Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 284 (1986);
10. League of United Latin Am. Citizens (LULAC) v. Bredesen, 500 F.3d 523, 528 (6th Cir. 2007);
11. LeClerc v. Webb, 419 F.3d 405, 415 (5th Cir. 2005);
12. Vasquez-Velezmoro v. INS, 281 F.3d 693, 697 (8th Cir. 2002). This difficulty may be less applicable in Title VII cases because the discrimination alleged by the plaintiffs would be based upon membership in another suspect class category (e.g., race, gender). In that instance, courts are likely to rely on equal protection rights for undocumented noncitizens and find the plaintiffs entitled to relief.
13. See Plyler, 457 U.S. at 215;
14. Rosales-Garcia v. Holland, 322 F.3d 386, 409 (6th Cir. 2003);
15. Doherty v. Thornburgh, 943 F.2d 204, 208 (2d Cir. 1991);
16. Lynch v. Cannatella, 810 F.2d 1363, 1373 (5th Cir. 1987).
17. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) (1964).
18. Id. § 2000e-5(g).
19. Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137, 140 (2002).
20. Id.
21. Id.
22. Id. at 141.
23. Id.
24. Id. at 140.
25. Id.
26. Id. at 140-41.
27. Id. at 151;
28. see also Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C).
29. Hoffman, 535 U.S. at 150.
30. Id. at 148.
31. Id.
32. See id.
33. Madeira v. Affordable Hous. Found., Inc., 469 F.3d 219, 249 (2d Cir. 2006).
34. Id. at 236;
35. see also Madeira v. Affordable Hous. Found., Inc., 315 F. Supp. 2d 504, 507 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) (holding that New York's public policy does not prohibit back pay for noncitizens injured at work);
36. Safeharbor Employer Servs. I, Inc. v. Velasquez, 860 So. 2d 984, 985-86 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2003) (holding that the Florida legislature's ability to allow workers' compensation benefits to noncitizens is not prohibited by Hoffman).
37. 364 F.3d 1057, 1065 (9th Cir. 2004).
38. Id. at 1061.
39. 153 F.3d 184 (4th Cir. 1998).
40. Id. at 187.
41. 281 F. Supp. 2d 895, 897 (S.D. Tex. 2003).
42. Id.
43. 845 A.2d 950, 954 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2004).
44. Id. at 955.
45. No. 02 C 495, 2003 WL 21995190, at *6-7 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 21, 2003).
46. 29 U.S.C. § 201 (1940).
47. 820 ILL. COMP. STAT. 105/4(a) (2006).
48. Oro v. 23 E. 79th St. Corp., 810 N.Y.S.2d 779, 783 (App. Div. 2005).
49. 658 N.W.2d 510, 512 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).
50. Id. at 520.
51. Veliz v. Rental Serv. Corp. USA, 313 F. Supp. 2d 1317, 1336 (M.D. Fla. 2003).
52. See, e.g., Rosa v. Partners in Progress, Inc., 868 A.2d 994, 1000 (N.H. 2004) (allowing the plaintiff's claim for lost earnings; maintaining that, in most circumstances, lost earnings must be measured in the prevailing rate of the plaintiff's home country, unless the employer knew or should have known the employee's undocumented status; and finding that an undocumented noncitizen's status is relevant to the question of lost earnings and can be introduced by the defendant at trial);
53. Sanango v. 200 E. 16th St. Hous. Corp., 788 N.Y.S.2d 314, 321 (App. Div. 2004) (holding that the injured plaintiff, who was an undocumented noncitizen, could only receive back pay under the workers' compensation law for the wages he would be able to earn in his home country).
54. Crespo v. Evergo Corp., 841 A.2d 471, 472 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2004).
55. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 1-2.
56. Id. at 2.
57. Id.
58. Id. at 114.
59. Id. at 105-06.
60. Id. at 113-14.
61. ILO, supra note 3.
62. Id. ¶ 565.
63. Id. ¶ 578;
64. see also ILO, ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, June 19, 1998, 37 I.L.M. 1233, 1237-38;
65. ILO, Convention (No. 87) Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, July 9, 1948, 68 U.N.T.S. 17;
66. ILO, Convention (No. 98) Concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and to Bargain Collectively, July 1, 1949, 96 U.N.T.S. 257.
67. ILO, supra note 3, ¶ 600.
68. Id.
69. Id. ¶ 573.
70. Id. ¶ 612.
71. Brad Knickerbocker, Illegal Immigrants in the U.S. - Just How Many?, CHRISTIAN SCI. MONITOR, May 16, 2006, at 1.
72. See supra notes 24-27 and accompanying text.
73. See supra note 35 and accompanying text.
74. See Colindres v. Quietflex Mfg., No. H-01-4319, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27982, at *13 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 19, 2004) (holding that the plaintiffs must provide lists of current employees who do not assert back pay or lost future wages and the documents proving those persons' legal authorization to work);
75. Thorpe v. City of New York, No. 116924/03, 2005 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3535, at *13 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Nov. 30, 2005) (granting the defendant additional discovery of the plaintiff's identity and immigration status because the request was "material and relevant" to the jury's determination of whether to award lost earnings based on wages the plaintiff may have earned in the United States).
76. But see EEOC v. Rest. Co., 448 F. Supp. 2d 1085, 1088 (D. Minn. 2006) (denying discovery of the plaintiff's immigration status in a Title VII sexual harassment and retaliation suit).
77. See Scott L. Cummings, The Internationalization of Public Interest Law, 57 DUKE L.J. (forthcoming 2008).
78. Connie de la Vega & Conchita Lozano-Batista, Advocates Should Use Applicable International Standards to Address Violations of Undocumented Migrant Workers' Rights in the United States, 3 HASTINGS RACE & POVERTY L.J. 35, 41-43 (2005).
79. Id. at 40, 43.
80. Id. at 43 (footnotes omitted).
81. See Sara R. Bollerup, Comment, America's Scapegoats: The Undocumented Worker and Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 38 NEW ENG. L. REV. 1009, 1012 (2004).
82. Sarah Cleveland et al., Inter-American Court of Human Rights Amicus Curiae Brief: The United States Violates International Law When Labor Law Remedies Are Restricted Based on Workers' Migrant Status, 1 SEATTLE J. FOR SOC. JUST. 795, 805 (2003).
83. See de la Vega & Lozano-Batista, supra note 59, at 42 (noting that workers are afraid to report poor working conditions in part out of a "fear of retaliation by employers").
84. Christine Dana Smith, Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor: Hoffman and the Future of Immigrants' Workplace Rights, 72 U. CIN. L. REV. 363, 374 (2003).
85. Id. at 374-75.
86. Cleveland et al., supra note 63, at 909.
87. Brief Amici Curiae of Employers and Employer Organizations in Support of Respondent at 4, Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137 (2002) (No. 00-1595), 2001 WL 1631729, at *4 (noting that one association's members "face unfair competition from contractors who ignore labor, health, and safety standards");
88. see Catherine Fisk & Michael Wishnie, The Story of Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB: Labor Rights Without Remedies for Undocumented Immigrants, in LABOR LAW STORIES 399, 438 (Laura J. Cooper & Catherine L. Fisk eds., 2005).
89. BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 876 (8th ed. 2004).
90. The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677, 700 (1900) ("[W]here there is no treaty and no controlling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be had to the customs and usages of civilized nations.").
91. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties art. 53, opened for signature May 23, 1969, 115 U.N.T.S. 331 (entered into force Jan. 27, 1980).
92. Id.;
93. see also RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW OF THE UNITED STATES § 102 cmt. k (1987) ("Some rules of international law are recognized by the international community of states as peremptory, permitting no derogation.").
94. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra note 71, art. 64.
95. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 113.
96. Id. at 94.
97. Organization of American States [OAS], American Convention on Human Rights, Nov. 22, 1969, O.A.S.T.S. No. 36, 1144 U.N.T.S. 123.
98. Charter of the OAS, Apr. 30, 1948, 2 U.S.T. 2394, 119 U.N.T.S. 3, amended by Protocol of Buenos Aires, Feb. 27, 1967, 21 U.S.T. 607, 721 U.N.T.S. 324, amended by Protocol of Cartagena de Indias, Dec. 5, 1985, O.A.S.T.S. No. 66, 25 I.L.M. 527, amended by Protocol of Washington, Dec. 4, 1985, 33 I.L.M. 1005, amended by Protocol of Managua, June 12, 1993, 33 I.L.M. 1009.
99. OAS, American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948), compiled in BASIC DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM 17, OEA/Ser.L.V/II.82 doc. 6 rev. 1 (1992).
100. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 19, 1966, S. TREATY DOC. NO. 95-20, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 [hereinafter Civil and Political Covenant].
101. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A, at 71, U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., 1st plen. mtg. U.N. Doc A/810 (Dec. 12, 1948).
102. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 92.
103. Id. at 95.
104. Id. at 99 ("Accordingly, this Court considers that the principle of equality before the law, equal protection before the law[,] and nondiscrimination belongs to jus cogens, because the whole legal structure of national and international public order rests on it and it is a fundamental principle that permeates all laws.").
105. Id.
106. See Comm. of U.S. Citizens Living in Nicar. v. Reagan, 859 F.2d 929, 940 (D.C Cir. 1988) ("So far as we know, no federal court has ever considered the concept-much less the effect - of jus cogens.").
107. 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (2000);
108. see also id. § 41 (1940) (codifying the original Alien Tort Claims Act).
109. See Hawkins v. Comparet-Cassani, 33 F. Supp. 2d 1244, 1255 (C.D. Cal. 1999) ("There is no reported case of a court in the United States recognizing a cause of action under jus cogens norms of international law for acts committed by United States government officials against a citizen of the United States."),
110. rev'd on other grounds, 251 F.3d 1230 (9th Cir. 2001).
111. These disagreements may stem from Confusion concerning how to determine the status of various norms, along with widely differing perspectives on both the basis for jus cogens status and which norms ought to achieve that status. "[T]he extensive assertions of peremptory norms made by some writers and international tribunals, without presenting any evidence to support the claimed superior status of the norms under consideration, pose risks for the international legal order and the credibility of the authors and tribunals." Dinah Shelton, Normative Hierarchy in International Law, 100 AM. J. INT'L L. 291, 292 (2006).
112. Comm. of U.S. Citizens Living in Nicar., 859 F.2d at 941
113. (quoting RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW OF THE UNITED STATES § 102 cmt. k (1987)).
114. Princz v. Fed. Republic of Germany, 26 F.3d 1166, 1173 (D.C. Cir. 1994)
115. (quoting RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW OF THE UNITED STATES § 702 & cmt. n (1987) (defining those rights listed in section 702 as jus cogens principles)).
116. The Commission described the principle opposing racial discrimination as one that the "international community is unanimous in considering that the prohibition of racial discrimination and of practices directly associated with it is an obligation erga omnes." Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 23.
117. Instead, the Commission suggested that some states have failed to codify norms of nondiscrimination: "The jus cogens nature of the principle of non-discrimination implies that, owing to their peremptory nature, all States must observe these fundamental rules, whether or not they have ratified the conventions establishing them, because it is an obligatory principle of international common law." Id. (emphasis added);
118. see also Shelton, supra note 88, at 310 (discussing the Commission's conclusion that the international community had not yet reached consensus on prohibiting discrimination other than racial discrimination).
119. See Civil and Political Covenant, supra note 79, arts. 8, 9.
120. Id. art. 2.
121. Id. art. 26.
122. U.N. Human Rights Comm., General Comment No. 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, ¶ 6, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (May 26, 2004).
123. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature Mar. 7, 1966, S. EXEC. DOC. C, 95-2, 660 U.N.T.S. 195.
124. See id. art. 5.
125. Id. art. 1.
126. Id. art. 2.
127. Id. art. 5.
128. U.N. Comm. on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation 30: Discrimination Against Non Citizens, ¶ 7.33, in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7/Add.1 (May 4, 2005).
129. Id. ¶ 7.35.
130. See White v. Paulsen, 997 F. Supp. 1380, 1383 (E.D. Wash. 1998);
131. see also Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 728 (2004);
132. Igartúa-de la Rosa v. United States, 417 F.3d 145, 150 (1st Cir. 2005) (en banc).
133. U.S. CONST, art. VI, § 2.
134. See The Chinese Exclusion Case, 130 U.S. 581, 600 (1889);
135. Julian G. Ku, Treaties as Laws: A Defense of the Last-in-Time Rule for Treaties and Federal Statutes, 80 IND. L.J. 319, 325 (2005).
136. 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169 (2000).
137. While the United States has certainly updated immigration statutes since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the Court's decision in Hoffman was based exclusively upon the policy rationale within the IRCA. See Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137, 147-52 (2002).
138. U.S. CONST. art. VI, § 2.
139. See United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655, 667 (1992);
140. Medellín v. Texas, 128 S. Ct. 1346, 1356 (2008).
141. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. at 667.
142. See Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 738 (2004).
143. Id. at 728.
144. See Lori Fisler Damrosch, The Role of the United States Senate Concerning "Self-Executing" and "Non-Self-Executing" Treaties, 67 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 515, 531 (1991).
145. THE FEDERALIST NO. 22, at 143 (Alexander Hamilton) (Jacob E. Cooke ed., 1961).
146. See, e.g., Igartúa-de la Rosa v. United States, 417 F.3d 145, 150-51 (1st Cir. 2005) (en banc) (determining that neither the Constitution nor the Civil and Political Covenant requires the United States to extend the right to vote to citizens of Puerto Rico).
147. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, supra note 3, at 1-2.
148. See generally U.N. Human Rights Comm., List of Issues to Be Taken up in Connection with the Consideration of the Second and Third Periodic Reports of the United States of America, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/USA/Q/3 (Apr. 26, 2006);
149. see also International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, Geneva, Switz., Feb. 18-Mar. 7, 2008,
150. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: United States of America, ¶ 28, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/CO/6 (Feb. 2008).
151. See Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137, 149-50 (2002).
152. See supra notes 85-90 and accompanying text (discussing the reluctance of U.S. courts to consider jus cogens norms).
153. Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 64, 118 (1804).
154. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 316 n.21 (2002). The Court similarly cited international norms in juvenile death penalty cases.
155. See Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 578 (2005) (acknowledging "the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty");
156. Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 830-31 (1988) (plurality opinion). In 1989, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist stated that, since "constitutional law is solidly grounded in so many [foreign] countries, it is time that the United States courts begin looking to the decisions of other constitutional courts to aid in their own deliberative process."
157. William Rehnquist, Constitutional Courts - Comparative Remarks, in GERMANY AND ITS BASIC LAW: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - A GERMAN-AMERICAN SYMPOSIUM 411, 412 (Paul Kirchhof & Donald P. Kommers eds., 1993). Other advocates have documented the Supreme Court's history of applying international law.
158. See e.g., Brief Amici Curiae of Mary Robinson et al. in Support of Petitioners at 3-8, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) (No. 02-102), 2003 WL 164151, at *3-8. The Court has a significant history of considering international law.
159. See, e.g., Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 488-89 (1966) (comparing U.S. practice with that of India, Sri Lanka, and Scotland);
160. Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 548 (1961) (Harlan, J., dissenting) (delimiting the notion of privacy in the home by looking to "common understanding throughout the English-speaking world");
161. Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155, 167 (1955) (finding the practice of allowing a witness to object "supported by long-standing tradition here and in other English-speaking nations");
162. Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 169 (1952) (holding that the Due Process Clause obliges courts to ascertain whether laws offend "those canons of decency and fairness which express the notions of justice of English-speaking peoples");
163. Malinski v. New York, 324 U.S. 401, 413 (1945) (Frankfurter, J., concurring) ("The safeguards of 'due process of law' and 'the equal protection of the laws' summarize the history of freedom of English-speaking peoples . . . .");
164. Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis Co., 240 U.S. 342, 366 (1916) (explaining that a constitution embodies '"only relatively fundamental rules of right, as generally understood by all English-speaking communities'" (quoting Otis v. Parker, 187 U.S. 606, 609 (1903))).
165. Lawrence, 539 U.S. at 573.
166. Id. at 577.
167. The Supreme Court cited to a decision of the European Court of Human Rights, Dudgeon v. United Kingdom, 45 Eur. Ct. H.R. (1981), as persuasive authority when it held that a Texas law criminalizing homosexual sodomy was unconstitutional.
168. Id. at 573;
169. id. at 576 ("Other nations, too, have taken action consistent with an affirmation of the protected right of homosexual adults to engage in intimate, consensual conduct.");
170. Harold Hongju Koh, International Law as Part of Our Law, 98 AM. J. INT'L L. 43, 50-55 (2004).
171. Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 344 (2003) (Ginsburg, J., concurring);
172. see David Weissbrodt, International Human Rights Law Perspective on Grutter and Gratz, 21 CONST. COMMENT. 275, 276-77 (2004) (examining Justice Ginsburg's use of international law).
173. Stephen Breyer, Assoc. Justice, Supreme Court of the U.S., Keynote Address at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law Proceedings: Conflict and Coordination Across International Regimes (Apr. 2003), in 97 AM. SOC'Y INT'L L. PROC. 265, 267 (2003).