NIWAP Web Library

Victims of labor trafficking appear before state court judges in a wide range of state court proceedings including protection orders, dependency, delinquency, guardianship, child support, custody, children in need of protection, employment cases, and criminal court cases (both misdemeanors and felonies). Victims of labor trafficking may be adults, youth, or children and some may also be victims of sex trafficking. This webinar will discuss federal and state law definitions of labor trafficking, provide examples and tips to help courts identify victims, review legal remedies available for victims, and describe steps state court judges and staff can take to help labor trafficking victims. Faculty will discuss the role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), prosecutors, and judges in combating labor trafficking and connecting victims with programs that offer help to victims. By participating in this webinar participants will be able to:

Identify victims of labor trafficking whom they encounter in court;
Access correct information about the legal rights of labor trafficking victims under trafficking, immigration, public benefits, and labor laws;
Provide victims with know your rights information, referrals to the EEOC and to organizations in your state that assist victims;
Play a leadership role in your court and community by convening and working with others to hold perpetrators of labor trafficking accountable and offer help to victims; and
Enhance access to justice for labor trafficking victims in criminal, civil, and family court proceedings.

Hosted by: The National Judicial Network, NIWAP at American University Washington College of Law, and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judge (NCJFCJ). If you are a judge or judicial official, please consider becoming a member of The National Judicial Network!

Training Materials

PowerPoint Presentation

EEOC Resources

AEquitas Resources

NIWAP Resources

Other Research

EEOC v. Tortilleria, 758 F. Supp. 585 (E.D. Cal. 1991) (holding that undocumented workers are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because the statute makes no distinction based on immigration status for workers in the U.S. and its territories).
Stoll v. Runyon, 165 F.3d 1238 (9th Cir. 1999) (holding that an employee was entitled to equitable tolling because the effects of sexual harassment caused her failure to timely file complaint).
EEOC v. Harris Farms, 2005 WL 2071741 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2005) (holding that retaliation supports claim for punitive damages in sexual harassment case involving rape).
Chellen v. John Pickle Co., 446 F. Supp. 2d 1247 (N.D. Okla. 2006).
EEOC v. Willamette Tree Wholesale, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97380 (D. Or. July 8, 2010) (issuing protective order barring discovery into charging party’s immigration status, prior sexual history, and reasons for not reporting rapes to the police; in view of perpetrator’s threats to kill charging party and her siblings if she reported the rapes, she had good reason not to go to the police).
EEOC v. Willamette Tree Wholesale, 2011 WL 886402 (D. Or. Mar. 14, 2011) (denying motion seeking partial summary judgment on timeliness grounds where court granted “equitable tolling” to allow lawsuit to go forward where charging party filed her EEOC charge 62 days past the deadline because charging party was so traumatized by the repeated rapes and threats to kill her and her family that she could not come forward to complain).
Colleen Owens et al., Understanding the Organization, Operation, and Victimization Process of Labor Trafficking in the United States, URB. INST. (Oct. 2014), https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/33821/413249-Understanding-the-Organization-Operation-and-Victimization-Process-of-Labor-Trafficking-in-the-United-States.PDF.
Frontline: Rape in the Fields (PBS broadcast June 25, 2013), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-in-the-fields.
Frontline: Rape on the Night Shift (PBS broadcast Jan. 16, 2018), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-on-the-night-shift.
Jane Anderson & Daniel Strong, Forced Criminality: Understanding Human Trafficking through the Lens of Utah’s Victor Rax Case, POLICE CHIEF MAG. (Nov. 2020), https://aequitasresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Forced-Criminality-Through-the-Lens-of-the-Victor-Rax-Case.pdf.
Kelle Barrick et al., Labor Trafficking Victimization Among Farmworkers in North Carolina: Role of Demographic Characteristics and Acculturation, 2 INT’L J. RURAL CRIMINOLOGY 225 (2014), https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/61593/IJRC_Barrick_vol2-issue2_pp225-243.pdf;jsessionid=9F8139A32B9FD2D0FAE401272796715B?sequence=1.
Laura Murphy, Labor and Sex Trafficking Among Homeless Youth: A Ten City Study (2017), https://nspn.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/NSPN/labor%20and%20sex%20trafficking%20among%20homeless%20youth.pdf.
Rebecca Clarren, The Green Motel, MS. MAG. (Sept. 29, 2005), https://niwaplibrary.wcl.american.edu/wp-content/uploads/The-Green-Motel-Full-Article.pdf.
Sheldon Zhang et al., Estimated Labor Trafficking Among Unauthorized Migrant Workers in San Diego, 653 ANNALS AM. ACAD. POL. & SOC. SCI. 65 (2014).**
William R. Tamayo, The Role of the EEOC in Protecting the Civil Rights of Farm Workers, 33 C. Davis L. Rev. 1075 (2000).**
William R. Tamayo, The EEOC and Immigrant Workers, 44 U.S.F. L. Rev. 253 (2009). https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/thcsj/TheEEOCandImmigrantWorkers.pdf.

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