5th Circuit to Hear Katrina Related FLSA Labor Case En Banc
Posted
10:54 AM
by Michael Fox
Yesterday the 5th Circuit announced it would hear Castellanos-Contrera v. Decatur Hotels en banc.
The case turns on whether an employer who brought foreign workers in post-Katrina under the H-2B visa program was required to reimburse them for recruitment, transportation and visa expenses in order to meet requirement that wages be paid "free and clear" under the FLSA.
The original panel said no, although it took two opinions to do so. I know that the 5th Circuit has a lot of Katrina related cases that deal with insurance coverage and it may be that there are other H-2B FLSA cases.
Or maybe a majority of judges just thought the panel got it wrong.
For links to the panel opinon and replacement opinion, see my original post from February 2009.
Labels: FLSA, immigration