Peterson, Berk & Cross

Image by ElectronicFrontierFoundation via Flickr H-1B employees who have been benched without pay or underpaid often are reluctant to complain against their employers because they fear they will be fired and lose their immigration status. This fear is understandable, but exaggerated. This article will explain why complaining can actually help preserve your status in the [...]

[re-posted from H-1B Legal Rights blog, authored by attorneys Vonda Vandaveer and Michael Brown] The H-1B employees who were originally indicted as co-conspirators in connection with Vision Systems work visa fraud scheme have either plead guilty to reduced charges or had charges dismissed last year.  Apparently, these results were in exchange for the H-1B workers cooperating with [...]

The H-1B Legal Rights Blog posted an article in February 2009 about the two owners of the now defunct IT services firm Vision Systems. The owners pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with submitting a fraudulent H-1B petition, and they were sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $236,250 in restitution [...]

Image via Wikipedia If you are a worker reading this blog, it may be because you are considering (or already pursuing) a legal action. Often, a worker pursues a legal action based only on his or own knowledge, and without additional proof, i.e. without evidence such as documents or witness statements. This post focuses on [...]

Image by debaird™ via Flickr If you’re a worker who believes you’re owed unpaid wages, there are a few pressing things to consider upfront, such as: (1) learning legal deadlines that may apply; and (2) promptly organizing information and documents that describe the unpaid wage issues, i.e. getting your ducks in a row. When a [...]

I recently attended a Wisconsin State Bar seminar, where speaker Egil “Bud” Krogh spoke of his experience as a former Nixon administration attorney, and his admitted involvement in illegal decisions. As noted in a WI Bar article: Krogh authorized a covert operation to burglarize the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist to find information that would discredit [...]

Readers interested in H-1B worker issues may already know of many websites with information about H-1B employers and H-1B filings.  But in case you haven’t heard, below are some websites with H-1B-related information that may be of interest. (Please note these websites are potential resources for information of interest, but this blog’s authors are not [...]

Image by owaief89 via Flickr If you are a worker paid a salary, then you may be ineligible for overtime pay, assuming other circumstances exist as well. (Being paid a salary is one of multiple criteria that must be met before an employer can consider you overtime-exempt). However, some workers who are called “salaried” workers [...]

According to a press release on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Maryland’s Prince George’s County Public Schools system in willful violation of the laws that govern the H-1B temporary foreign worker visa program. Investigators found that PGCPS illegally reduced the wages [...]

This post continues my series of tips, or things to consider, for workers with unpaid wages. Tip #10 is this: Don’t Sign Documents the Employer Presents That You Disagree With, or Believe to Be False. If you have unpaid wages, and an employer approaches you with a document to sign relating to the unpaid wages, [...]