David v. Signal Intern., LLC

Among their claims in this case, the undocumented immigrant Plaintiffs alleged various FLSA violations. The Defendants moved to compel information pertaining to Plaintiffs’ immigration status and the Court granted Plaintiffs request for a protective order, citing the in terrorem effect such a disclosures would likely have. The Court cited the other Courts who had held the same way and discussed the issue at great length.

The Defendants addressed the relevance of the information sought and contended that plaintiffs must demonstrate that the issues are not relevant to any claim or issue in the case, including plaintiffs’ civil rights or tort claims. Plaintiffs contended that the damage and prejudice which would result if discovery into their current immigration status were permitted far outweighs its probative value with respect to their discrimination and tort claims.

In discussing the issue the Court stated, “[t]his Court finds plaintiffs’ argument persuasive. Even if current immigration status were relevant to plaintiffs race/national origin discrimination, contract and tort claims, discovery of such information would have an intimidating effect on an employee’s willingness to assert his workplace rights. Plaintiffs’ claims and allegations of fact supporting same in the case at bar find no parallel in reported federal decisions reviewed by the undersigned. See, e.g., Rivera v. NIBCO, Inc., 364 F.3d 1057, 1065 (9th Cir.2004) (“[W]ere we to direct district courts to grant discovery requests for information related to immigration status in every case involving national origin discrimination under Title VII, countless acts of illegal and reprehensible conduct would go unreported.”).

As stated above, this is also an action for unpaid wages and overtime for work actually performed for Signal. Courts have recognized the in terrorem effect of inquiring into a party’s immigration status and authorization to work in this country when irrelevant to any material claim because it presents a “danger of intimidation [that] would inhibit plaintiffs in pursuing their rights.” Here, plaintiffs’ current immigration status is a collateral issue. The protective order becomes necessary as “[i]t is entirely likely that any undocumented [litigant] forced to produce documents related to his or her immigration status will withdraw from the suit rather than produce such documents and face … potential deportation.”
Liu v. Donna Karan International, Inc., 207 F.Supp.2d 191, 193 (S.D.N.Y.2002) (citations omitted).
Topo v. Dhir, 210 F.R.D. 76, 78 (S.D.N.Y.2002) (quoting Flores v. Albertsons Inc., 2002 WL 1163623, *6 (C. D.Cal. Apr. 9, 2002)); see also EEOC v. First Wireless Group, Inc., 225 F.R.D. 404 (E.D.N.Y.2004) (good cause shown for protective order where disclosure of immigration status would cause embarrassment, potential criminal charges, or deportation if status was discovered to be illegal).”