Burning Atlanta

I've been looking forward to this. We all know the drill: "We didn't know they were illegals. We followed the rules. These aren't even our hires. They came thru a sub-contractor....." These cases are great because it's the employees and former employees filing suit, not the government. And I can just about gurantee that there are more lawyers than ICE agents available to go after these employers. I think it was Zirkle Fruit that settled a similar lawsuit a while back. GOOD!!! When it cost them they'll stop pulling this crap.

Weasels Lost

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court has declined to consider an appeal by Mohawk Industries -- a carpet and floor-covering company that was sued by its employees for hiring illegal immigrants in an effort to depress wages.

The workers claim they received lower wages than employees at other companies in the northern Georgia region where Mohawk is based. The area is known as the "Carpet Capital of the World" and is home to carpet plants for Shaw Industries, Interface and other companies.

Mohawk had sought to have the case dismissed, something lower federal courts had declined to do. The Supreme Court's decision today allows the suit to proceed in federal court.

At issue in the case is the use of civil lawsuits under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which was originally intended to fight organized crime. Williams and the other Mohawk employees charge that the company violated RICO by conspiring with employment recruiting agencies to hire illegal workers in an effort to lower wages.

Calhoun.-based Mohawk argues that its contracts with outside employment agencies do not constitute a racketeering enterprise and the workers were not directly harmed by the conduct alleged to have violated RICO.