Because of deadlines and distance, I was never paid after working my butt for a year with no pay when I lived in California. Even though the deputy handling my case said I could do hearing by phone, my case was still dismissed. So, I tried to file federally, time had run out. California DOV took longer than it should have. Their reason was too many cases... Not my fault, I am a matur to a desterved system. My employer... more »

Workers are the eyes and ears of workplaces. When they can report hazards without fear they not only avert danger for themselves but entire workplaces -- and in a time of COVID, families and communities as well. Too often employers use the threat of deportation to silence employees. OSHA must do everything in its power to protect workers who speak up - with strong whistleblower protections (including responding to the... more »

# Civil Right Activity Heat Mapping Project (CRAHM)

# Organizational Change and Decision-Making Presentation

Overview of the Planned Change

Overview of the Planned Change & Potential barriers

Many of today's leading organizations utilize mapping and mapping related tools, to depict the geographic location of their service areas or to make similar references to their individual organizations areas of concentration.... more »

On behalf of our client New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, we submit the following response:

As the DOL itself recognizes, the agency "has an important role to play in combating trafficking in persons through our civil enforcement of federal labor laws." Yet on July 1, 2019, Administrator Stanton unlawfully changed a successful program in a manner that unnecessarily deters immigrant workers who are victims... more »

One of the biggest problems in policing labor trafficking is the jurisdictional gap between criminal and civil agencies. Because neither is fully authorized to do the job, neither is proactively investigating or effectively busting this crime. Put another way, federal and local law enforcement do not typically investigate civil labor violations, because such violations are supposed to be investigated by the Department... more »

Supporting and adding to CAST LA's comments:

Susan Harwood Grants could integrate labor trafficking awareness

Worker safety training grants aimed to raise worker awareness of health and safety issues could integrate basic awareness training about workplace rights beyond OSH issues, as well as indicators of labor trafficking, and what to do when labor trafficking is suspected. This training should also include de-biasing... more »

Youth and adults should learn the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so they know their rights everywhere. If more people knew their rights - and knew others rights - maybe they would be able to stand up for their rights better and they might not fall prey to labor trafficking. It's not the total solution, but if people know their rights, it can make a big difference.

Idea for Educating Farm and AG Workers Rights:

Teach them how to check if employer is actually submitting their Social Security payments to the government.

Child labor is used by some employers here in the US to fly under the radar. I worked from age 10 to 17 in fields and no accounting for deducted Social Security. Also some, not all workers can not read or read and understand their rights. I am not talking about foreign... more »

There's nothing innovative in suggesting modifying value distribution in supply chains; it's just that the imbalance continues to grow and it makes sense that the incidence of exploitation would also grow at the same rate. We can wrestle with issues further down the chain, but immoderation at the top - corporate boards, executives and outsized compensation - will always determine the health of the structure. The fish... more »

We had an employee get hired to start working, but then told they could not work because of his documentation. Since we are a government contractor, we must follow more stringent guidelines for our labor force. However, in this case, we had to turn someone away because they did not have legal documentation. Somehow he made his way to VA from S./C. America. He spoke very limited English. I recommend having a way to get... more »

Help the victims with basic support to get over the trafficking they went through. I have seen camp grounds, state parks, and RV parks that would be an ideal place to recover. Clean air, clean water, beautiful sights and sounds to rebuild the person. Have a few persons who have healed from the abuse to help the others get through. Could be combined with helping animals. Anything people need to get skills or education... more »

Immigrants join a union, If we had them join a union they would have health insurance and they would be enrolled in a apprenticeship program that is registered and fully funded and be able to sustain themselves without any help from the government and they would be assimilated into the workforce fully trained and ready to go

A focus on trafficking, forced and child labor in the agricultural and informal sector is needed. With limited number of inspectors, these sectors are often disregarded. While labor inspectors and other government and police agents are well positioned to identify trafficking, with many inspections being complaint driven, victims without access to call or submit any form of complaint means their situations will largely... more »

Punish those who human traffic others. Asking the right questions can get us to the solutions. First question. What are the penalties for human trafficking? Second question is, who is enabling the trafficking?

The federal government can send Seal team 6 into Africa to save a few hostages. So, the police should save the people being human trafficked on the streets of America. It's estimated 300,000 underage children are... more »

In my current position, as task force operations supervisor, we have been successful in getting in on the ground floor of potential juvenile sex trafficking cases by partnering with our local Department of Children and Families (DCF) Agency and getting immediate referrals after an investigator determines or believes that HT indicators are present. DCF utilizes a Human Trafficking Tool to determine the likelihood of trafficking... more »