California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
Fighting for justice and changing lives.
Rural Justice Updates
Bill Hoerger,
Director of Litigation, Advocacy & Training
CRLA, under lead counsel, Bill Hoerger, co-counseling with Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP, convinced the California Supreme Court to issue the first-ever decision recognizing the broad wage protections afforded California workers. The Court affirmed that workers can turn to the historic standards provided under Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) regulations to identify who, among multiple parties that control or oversee work, is liable as an "employer" for unpaid minimum and overtime wages. The Court rejected the employers' attempts to limit workers' rights under California law to common-law concepts of the employment relationship.
This decision advances the rights of California workers by embracing almost every legal argument asserted by the Plaintiffs. Although CRLA's clients did not win for themselves, they achieved a major victory for low wage workers everywhere.
To Download Martinez, et al. v. Combs, et al, Opinion Filed 5/20/10
Click Here
Read Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP Official Press Release
and share with your friends:
Click Here
Help Support the Indigenous Farmworker Communities
(Un)Safe at Home: The Health Consequences of Sub-standard Farm Labor Housing
"Farmworkers and their families in rural California and throughout this country often are forced to live in the most despicable and challenging conditions. They sleep in onion fields, live in caves dug into canyons, bathe in irrigation ditches, huddle under tarps or find refuge in cars, tool sheds, barns and in river banks, face rent gouging for substandard and dangerous housing units, rent rooms in dilapidated old motels, face housing discrimination because of who they are, what they look like or the language they speak and suffer retaliatory eviction and firing should they have the temerity to complain about such third world conditions in the richest nation in the world." Ilene J. Jacobs, Director of Litigation, Advocacy and Training California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
(Un)Safe at Home: The Health Consequences of Sub-standard Farm Labor Housing was developed as part of the Rural Justice Forum (RJF), an ongoing series of conferences, workshops, and symposia convened each year by CRLA to showcase emerging research and advocacy focused on the needs of low-income rural communities and marginalized populations within California. This paper reflects the focus of the RJF over the past two years: Addressing the persistent problem of substandard housing for farmworkers, and the related health implications of living in unhealthy environments.
We hope you will join us in addressing this problem and finding solutions that will bring about healthier, safer lives for farmworkers in California and beyond.
Help Support the Indigenous Farmworker Communities
CRLA Partners with Farm Labor Researchers for The Indigenous Farmworker Study
The indigenous peoples from Mexico who work in California’s agriculture are among the poorest communities in the state. Because they have been undercounted by government officials in the past, there is widespread unawareness of this community’s needs; service providers in some regions may even be unaware of the community’s existence. The language barriers and the unique cultural traits of the population make it critical that customized programs be implemented to accommodate the significant differences with other Mexican immigrants.
The Indigenous Farmworker Study was conceived by California Rural Legal Assistance’s Indigenous Farmworker Program and Rick Mines PhD, directed by Rick Mines, and executed by Rick Mines with other experienced farm labor researchers and a team of CRLA Indigenous Outreach Workers: Mariano Álvarez, Jesús Estrada, Antonio Flores, Irma Luna, Fausto Sánchez, and Lorenzo Oropeza. The project was funded with the goal of improving knowledge about the newest group of immigrants to enter the bottom rung of the agricultural labor force in California. The Indigenous Farmworker Study describes the size, distribution and language characteristics of this population. The study also provides information on living and working conditions, and the most pressing needs of indigenous farmworker immigrants.
Please Join Rick Mines, Director of the Indigenous Farmworker Study in a Public Discussion: Delivering Better Services to Indigenous Mexican Farmworkers. For more information call 805-486-1068
For more information on Indigenous Mexicans in California Agriculture
click here.
Download Indigenous Farmwokers Study Full Report
click here.
Help Support the Indigenous Farmworker Communities
CRLA Protects Valley Residents from Toxic Drift
California Rural Legal Assistance along with the Law Offices of Michael Freund have reached a settlement worth $135,000 for ten farm workers who filed a lawsuit against a Central Valley orchard owner after they were exposed to pesticide drift. While working in an adjacent field, the farm workers were exposed to a dangerous pesticide by the neighboring orchard owner that caused symptoms including vomiting, nausea, skin irritation and difficulty breathing.
The health of farm workers is disproportionally threatened by toxic drifts, given that they often live and work in such close proximity to areas frequently sprayed with pesticides. Exposure to pesticides can have severe and lasting effects on the health of anyone who comes in contact with sprayed pesticides. This win for the effected farm workers marks a victory for all valley farm workers and rural residents, because it reinforces the importance of compliance with California laws and sets the tone for a healthier future.
Read CRLA's Official Press Release for the GENERAL PUBLIC
Read CRLA's Official Press Release for FARMWORKERS
Help us continue the fight for better health and improved working conditions
CRLA and the 2010 Census
2010 is a census year, and accurate Census data is critical to CRLA's advocacy in low-income communities. Census data determines how federal dollars are distributed to local communities and spent on hospitals, senior centers, schools, road projects and other public works. Census data are also used to determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, and to enforce civil rights and prevent discrimination in voting, housing and education. It is vitally important that everyone is counted in 2010.
The Census historically undercounts racial and ethnic minorities, migrant and seasonal farmworkers, recent immigrants, renters, children and other hard-to-reach communities.
"When I saw the 2000 data for Imperial County, I couldn't believe the low numbers of children under 18," said Lupe Quintero, CRLA's Director of Community Workers based out of CRLA's El Centro office. "The difference between what the school enrollment actually is and the Census data is enormous. Parents didn't understand how to fill out the form, or the importance of listing every child. All those dollars and opportunities our schools and youth activities lost out on. We have to make a difference in 2010."
CRLA, in partnership with the two regional Census Bureau offices for California, is implementing a statewide education and outreach initiative. We are providing cross-cultural training to community-based organizations and activists, local service providers and Census Bureau staff, in order to ensure that all rural communities are informed and counted in the 2010 Census. New American Media, the Census Bureau and CRLA have produced a free DVD available in multiple indigenous languages to educate hard-to-count communities about Census participation.
CRLA Community Workers, like Quintero, are educating low-income workers and families throughout the state about Census 2010. Quintero recently spoke to a group of seniors on how to fill out the form. There was a great deal of confusion over the difference between "household" and "family". Yolanda Rios, a Community Worker in Oceanside, has partnered with another non-profit to incorporate Census information into its food service program. "It's a great feeling to be able to feed day laborers and migrant workers who are struggling and sometimes go days without eating. Bringing them food to eat is a good way of sparking their interest to read the census info and to listen to my short presentation," said Rios.
Using our existing staff and community contacts, CRLA is improving the visibility of marginalized communities, and ensuring a more accurate Census count that results in more equitable public funding and services, this work is supported in part by The California Endowment and The Irvine Foundation.
Learn more about CRLA Census Outreach
Help Support Low-Income Rural Communities
CRLA STRENGTHENS SAFETY NET FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES
California Rural Legal Assistance has awarded nine organizations multi-year grants in the amount of $17,500 per year for three years. Grants are made through CRLA's Fund For Rural Equity (FFRE) - an innovative re-granting initiative targeting 501(c)3 organizations serving low-income communities of color in the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast counties of San Benito and Santa Cruz.
These nine organizations were selected from an initial pool of over 70 organizations. Through a very competitive selection process, guided by two advisory councils—one in the San Joaquin Valley, the other based in Santa Cruz—CRLA identified and selected organizations which best aligned with the goals and desired outcomes of The Fund For Rural Equity.
Read CRLA's Official Press Release and share with your friends:
(Download the PDF Press Release)
Help us continue this fight for better wages.
CRLA Makes it Possible for Farmworkers to Return to Work
Last week before Thanksgiving more than 50 farmworkers were fired at H & R Gunlund Ranches, grape growers in Caruthers, CA. This was after they had raised concerns about their decrease in pay from $0.26 to $0.20 per vine they pruned and tied. For some of the workers the piece rate amounted to less than $2.00 per hour--far below the minimum wage of $8.00.
CRLA has since represented these farmworkers and immediately filed a complaint on their behalf with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board for unfair labor practices. Gunlund Ranches has now allowed the workers to return to work today and has promised to pay them higher wages than before the firing.
Learn more about this victory through this ABC News Coverage.
Read CRLA's Official Press Release and share with your friends:
(Download the PDF Press Release)
Help us continue this fight for better wages.
FIGHTING AGAINST HARASSMENT
There are many difficult issues that farmworkers face on a daily basis, however one that is often ignored and under-reported is that of sexual harassment in the workplace. Victims of sexual harassment often suffer in silence, believing that they have no one to turn to for fear of losing their job. It is even harder to report such abuse when the perpetrator is an employee’s own supervisor.
CRLA client Maricruz Ladino worked for years in different parts of the agricultural industry, and during that time she had experienced multiple episodes of sexual harassment on the job. However, when the harassment escalated into assault she could no longer stay silent. Ms. Ladino had enough and reported the harassment that she was experiencing from her then supervisor. Her reporting resulted in termination of her employment. This caused her to reach out to attorney Michael Marsh at the CRLA office in Salinas.
She spoke with Mr. Marsh who reviewed her case and then filed suit against Ms. Ladino's former employer for the harassment she suffered, the hostile environment that she worked in, and their failure to prevent the harassment and discrimination. This lawsuit is currently ongoing. Ms. Ladino hopes that this lawsuit against her former employer will send a message to other agricultural industry employers that harassment will no longer be tolerated. She also hopes that other farmworkers will hear about this case and that it will give them the strength to fight back against workplace harassment.
LEARN MORE
CRLA'S special initiative to combat sexual violence in the agricutural industy.
PROYECTO PODEROSO ON NPR
A joint CRLA program with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) that provides assistance to low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people facing harassment and discrimination in rural communities.
Listen to our story on The California Report.
(Segment on Proyecto Poderoso starts at the 15:30 mark)
*supported in part by a grant from the David Bohnett Foundation.
