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A: Your situation is very similar to two Filipino 2009
nurses who were allowed by the California Court of Appeal to proceed with their claims against a staffing company. The company required the nurses, Elena Sinolinding and Bermalyn Bascug, to sign an agreement indicating that they will be paid the prevailing wage rate provided by the Labor Department. The staffing company’s contract also required each of them to reimburse the company $20,000 for recruitment and training if the nurses breached the contract.
It was only when the nurses had left the Philippines and had been working for several months in the United States that they discovered they were being paid less than the prevailing wage rate. The nurses quit their jobs and sued the staffing agency, not only on behalf of themselves but also on behalf of other nurses who were employed and were similarly treated by the staffing company.
The nurses alleged that the staffing agency violated federal regulations and the Labor Code. Federal regulations required employers hiring foreign workers to pay these workers the prevailing wage rate. The Labor Code prohibits employers from requiring an employee to agree in writing to a term or condition of employment when the employer knows that such term or condition is prohibited by law. The contract the nurses signed also contained illegal penalty provisions in the guise of liquidated damages.
The staffing company argued that the failure to pay the prevailing wage provided by the Department of Labor was not prohibited by law. The employer also argued that the nurses cannot bring the lawsuit on behalf of others because they had not satisfied the procedural requirements for bringing a class action. Although the trial court agreed with the staffing company, the appellate court did not.
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