Congress, however, criminalized the employment of illegal workers in part to protect legal workers.

Williams v. Mohawk Industries, Inc., 465 F.3d 1277, 1290 (11th Cir. 2006)

Brewer v. Salyer (SK Foods Class Action)

This is a RICO class action brought against Scott Salyer, the former owner of SK Foods, LP (located in Lemore, California), for conspiring to hire illegal aliens. The case is pending in the Eastern District of California. The Court has certified the following class definition:

All seasonal hourly-paid workers, legally authorized to be employed in the United States, who have been employed by SK Foods LP at its California processing plants (“SK Foods”), from September 22, 2002 through July 27, 2009.

The class is seeking back pay for depressed wages caused by the alleged illegal hiring practices approved by Mr. Salyer.  If you are a former or current employee of SK Foods, LP’s California processing plant, you may be part of this class action. Please contact us if you have any information about:

  1. Hiring workers who have previously been employed at SK Foods under different names;
  2. Hiring workers who are known to SK Foods managers to be in the U.S. illegally and using false documents;
  3. Hiring workers who cannot speak English while claiming to be U.S. Citizens;
  4. Coaching illegal aliens at the time of hire to claim a high numbers of dependents on their tax forms in order to reduce tax withholding;
  5. Firing illegal workers after learning about this case; and
  6. Allowing illegal aliens to “re-use” social security numbers”

Even if you are not part of the class, if you have information that can help our case, please contact us immediately.

Click Here to View the Second Amended Complaint

Click Here to View Class Certification Order Number 1 and Order Number 2

Click Here to View the Class Notice

Click Here to View the Class Action Participation Form

Update

Due to Defendant Scott Salyer’s pending criminal trials in the Eastern District of California, Magistrate Judge Beck has stayed our civil RICO class action until the completion of Mr. Salyer’s criminal cases. We anticipate the first criminal case will be completed in April 2012. The second case (on antitrust charges) has not yet been scheduled, but may occur in the summer of 2012. Once Mr. Salyer’s criminal cases are completed, the Court in our case will decide how we should proceed.

Please see the orders below regarding the stay, and check back here for continued updates.