Class Action Alleges Foreign Healthcare Worker Exploitation

Milberg attorneys have filed a class action lawsuit over a purported scheme involving illegal labor exploitation and trafficking of foreign healthcare workers through deceptive and coercive practices.

• Defendants, including PruittHealth, Inc. and Infinity Care Partners, LLC allegedly conspired to exploit foreign workers for cheaper labor and profit.
• Plaintiffs say they faced lower wages and harsher working conditions than domestic workers and were bound by contracts that threatened them with tens of thousands of dollars in penalties.
• The lawsuit alleges that the defendants engaged in fraudulent practices, including misrepresentations to the U.S. government regarding compliance with immigration and labor laws, to obtain visas for foreign workers.
• The purpose of the lawsuit is to end the defendants’ alleged illegal practices and compensate victims.
• Counts include violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, state laws violations, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.

Deceptive Recruitment and Coercive Contracts: How the Alleged Scheme Works

This case revolves around claims that the defendants, including PruittHealth, Inc. and Infinity Care Partners, LLC (ICP), engaged in a scheme to exploit foreign workers hoping to come to the U.S. and work as nurses.

The complaint details how the defendants allegedly targeted workers from places like the Philippines and Nigeria, believing they could be a cheaper labor source and luring them with promises of better pay, rewarding work, and stable hours. Those workers uprooted their lives, moved around the world, and began working here in pursuit of the American Dream, only to find a nightmare that amounted to what the complaint describes as “indentured servitude.”

Defendants have developed a system of contracts threatening serious financial harm, which indentures and traps these foreign workers, and which unfortunately has proven to be a lucrative business model for Defendants. This blatant exploitation of foreign workers is the exact type of behavior that harms domestic and foreign workers, business competition, and the United States employment market as a whole and is directly prohibited by multiple immigration laws and labor trafficking laws.

Once in the U.S., the workers found the conditions far worse than promised, the complaint continues. Not only were the work and hours more intense and grueling than originally described, but when the workers found better jobs, they discovered they would be required to pay contractual penalties of up to $40,000 if they left their current job.

This alleged scheme amounts to a conspiracy, the complaint further alleges, because the contracts used to execute it are consistent across partners and providers, with ICP serving as a hub for providers throughout the U.S. who are “intent on recruiting and hiring cheap, exploitable foreign labor.”

“Defendants have profited and continue to profit from their fraudulent scheme,” the complaint states. “ICP binds unsuspecting nurses with predatory contracts and funnels them to various healthcare providers, who bind them to their own contracts which pay them less than the average domestic worker and prevent them from leaving due to the threat of serious financial harm. Defendants recoup even more money from workers who dare to leave before Defendants determine they have completed their commitment period. This is by design and is a product of Defendants’ conspiracy.”

The lawsuit alleges violations of multiple state and federal laws and seeks compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief on behalf of a proposed nationwide class and state classes.

“Indentured Workforce” Based on Fraud

According to the lawsuit, the defendants defrauded the U.S. government—because the government approved the work visa petitions without knowing they were based on false premises—and the workers, who were subjected to unexpectedly harsh employment terms.

It states that the defendants’ conspiracy is based on fraudulent representations and concealments of material facts, wire fraud, fraud in foreign labor contracting, and visa fraud. Specific counts cited in the complaint include:

• Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) Violations: Plaintiffs claim that the defendants violated the TVPA by knowingly obtaining labor or services through threats of serious harm, abuse or threatened abuse of legal processes, and engaging in practices that amount to forced labor.
• Conspiracy to Violate the TVPA: The complaint alleges that the defendants conspired to violate the TVPA, indicating an agreement between the parties to engage in trafficking and forced labor practices.
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Violations: Plaintiffs assert that the defendants engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, including visa fraud and wire fraud, to exploit and control foreign healthcare workers.
• State Law Violations: Defendants are accused of violating state laws, including those related to labor servitude and unfair labor practices, in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
• Breach of Contract: Plaintiffs claim that the defendants breached their employment contracts by failing to pay prevailing wages, failing to pay for all hours worked, and failing to provide meal and rest breaks.

Who Can Join the Foreign Healthcare Worker Exploitation Lawsuit: Nationwide and State Classes Sought

The plaintiffs are looking to represent the following Nationwide Class:

• All persons in the United States who were recruited by ICP to work in the United States, who immigrated to the United States, who were hired by one of the defendants, and who worked at a facility owned or operated by one of the defendants in the United States.

They also seek to represent the following State Classes:

• All persons in North Carolina or South Carolina who were recruited by ICP to work in the United States, who immigrated to the United States, who were hired by one of the defendants, and who worked in at a facility owned or operated by one of the defendants in North Carolina or South Carolina.

Attorneys Adam A. Edwards, Will Ladnier, and Alex Rudenco from Milberg’s Knoxville, Tennessee office are representing the plaintiffs and the classes.

Milberg attorneys are also pursuing RICO charges in a groundbreaking climate change lawsuit against fossil fuel companies that was recently given the green light to proceed in Puerto Rico federal court.

Since 1965, Milberg has pioneered federal class action litigation and it remains one of the most active class action firms in the country.