US lawyer promises to win compensation for Czechs illegally employed by US retailer
As many as 10,000 Czechs, former illegal workers in the United States, stand a chance of receiving compensation from the US retailer Wal-Mart. That is if they sign up to a joint lawsuit alleging that Wal-Mart systematically exploited its cleaning staff by denying them basic rights and labour protections.
A specially-created website written in six languages, including Czech, is calling on all present and former cleaning staff at Wal-Mart who were deprived of basic protection under US labour law to join a class action law suit against the American retailer.
Earlier this year, the lawyers for the plaintiffs, James Linsey and Thomas Ciantra, won a similar case against Pepsi. The case resulted in the recovery of close to 30 million dollars in back pay, fines and penalties for hundreds of Pepsi employees the two lawyers represented.
James Linsey has now arrived in the Czech Republic to seek potential claimants willing to join others in the class action. He has promised to "make Wal-Mart pay millions and to restore the exploited Czechs' pride".
According to Mr Linsey, Wal-Mart knowingly employed thousands of illegal immigrants from all over the world and exploited them because of their status, threatening them with sacking or deportation if they complained. For what he called a rampant violation of immigration and labour law, Mr Linsey will seek unspecified monetary damages and an injunction barring Wal-Mart from further violations.
