Immigrant Detainees Win Class Certification and Defeat Summary Judgment

Yesterday, a federal court certified three classes of immigrants detained and forced to work at the privately-run Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in upstate New York. It also denied in full the motion for summary judgment by the private security company, Akima Global Services (AGS).

First, the court certified three classes of detainees who participated in the so-called “Voluntary Work Program”: Those who worked any time from 2015 to the date of final judgment; those who worked in the kitchen or housing unites any time since 2019; and those who worked at any time since 2016. The classes will be able to pursue claims that (i) those in the “voluntary” work program were actually coerced into performing work for only $1 per day; (ii) that AGS’s practice of paying only $1 per day violated New York minimum wage laws; and (iii) that the company was unjustly enriched by using detainee labor to fulfill obligations it was contractually responsible for doing itself. In total, well over 5,000 people are class members covered by the court’s order. The court also named the plaintiffs as class representatives and KLLF and co-counsel Worker Justice Center of New York as class counsel. You can read the class certification order here.

Next, the court denied AGS’s motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit. It held that the detainees had produced enough evidence to present to a jury its claim that AGS officers coerced detainees into working by threatening detainees and imposing collective punishments if they did not “volunteer” to work, and by creating conditions of systemic deprivation that left them no choice but to work. The court also rejected AGS’s arguments that detainees are excluded from New York’s minimum wage protections. Finally, the court held that a jury could find AGS was enriched by paying $1 per day for work that AGS had contracted with the federal government to perform, specifically, ensuring the housing units and kitchen were kept clean. The court wrote:

In brief, Plaintiffs assert that Defendant knowingly used a consistent practice of punishing, depriving, threatening, or otherwise coercing detainees to join and labor in the VWP. Examples of such alleged coercion include, inter alia, threatening and imposing punishment on individuals and collectively on entire housing units when detainees did not volunteer and/or work in the VWP by confining them in their cells and providing them with fewer privileges. Defendant has not established a sufficient factual record on these issues to demonstrate entitlement to judgment as a matter of law.

You can read that full decision here.

KLLF attorneys Ali Frick and Alyssa Isidoridy represent the plaintiffs and class representatives in this case, along with co-counsel Worker Justice Center of New York.