Baca v. Brother’s Fried Chicken

Before the Court were: (1) the motion of the defendants, Omar Hamdan, Fatmah Hamdan, Alberta, Inc., FHH Properties, LLC, and Alberta Management, LLC, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e), for a more definite statement; and (2) the motion of the plaintiffs, Angela Mericia Baca and Abigail Analqueto, for a protective order limiting inquiries with in terrorem effect. The motions were related. The defendants’ sought an order requiring the plaintiffs to provide Social Security numbers and addresses. The plaintiffs sought a protective order barring the defendants from inquiring into this information. The Court granted Plaintiffs’ Motion and denied Defendants’.

The Court noted, “[i]n Topo v. Dhir, 210 F.R.D. 76 (S.D.N.Y.2002), the court stated:Courts have generally recognized the in terrorem effect of inquiring into a party’s immigration status when irrelevant to any material claim. In particular, courts have noted that allowing parties to inquire about the immigration status of other parties, when not relevant, would present a danger of intimidating that would inhibit plaintiffs in pursuing their rights.”

The Court, in granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Protective Order and denying Defendants’ Motion discussed the 5th Circuit case In re Reyes, 814 F.2d 168,170 (5th Cir.1987) paraphrasing, “[t]here is much stronger justification in this case [for a writ of mandamus] where there is no possible relevance and the discovery could place in jeopardy unrelated personal status matters.” Id. at 170-71. “Inasmuch as the protections provided by the FLSA apply to undocumented aliens, the plaintiffs’ immigration status, Social Security numbers and addresses are not relevant. In Agusiegbe v. Petroleum Associates of Lafayette, 486 So.2d, 314 (La.App. 3rd 1986), the defendant contended that the plaintiff falsely represented himself to be employable as a U.S. citizen. The court held that the LWPA applied to all employees, regardless of their nationality. Id. at 316. The information sought by defendants is not relevant to plaintiffs’ LWPA claims.

The defendants urge that the information is required to permit them to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code for the completion of Forms 1099 and W-2. The burden of reporting payroll information rests with the employer. The defendants have not demonstrated why they could not have obtained this information when the plaintiffs first began working for them. The plaintiffs are not required to provide it to defendants in connection with the pending FLSA and LWPA claims.”