What would you do if you saw serious abuses in your workplace? An employer is exploiting employees or maintaining dangerous working conditions… would you say something?
If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, I’m guessing you have some sense of right and wrong, so you’d want to speak up. Depending on the circumstances, you might talk to a manager or even the authorities.
But if you’re also an undocumented worker or otherwise have shaky immigration status, you’re likely to hesitate about speaking up or reporting abusive employers and working conditions. The understood threat of immigration-related retaliation, including deportation, keeps workers quiet – and abuses continuing.
But things are changing for the better, in the US at least.
In a major victory for workers, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced new guidance last week that allows migrant and immigrant workers who experience or witness workplace labor or civil rights violations to receive temporary protection against deportation and access to work authorization.
Under the new DHS guidance, workers assisting with investigations and enforcement actions by federal, state, or local labor agencies can, with those agencies’ support, apply for an expedited discretionary grant of deferred action.
If approved, this would provide whistleblowers and victims of rights abuses protection against immigration enforcement, typically for at least two years. During this period of deferred action, workers may also receive federal employment authorization, allowing them to work legally in the US.
It’s a major reform that will help make whistleblowing safer and abuses easier to report – and hopefully, quicker to end.
As with every bit of progress, this one didn’t come from nowhere. It follows years of worker-driven organizing and advocacy from a coalition of immigrants’ and workers’ rights groups, including Human Rights Watch.
Together with our partners, we celebrate a win.