Nice Agreement! What are you going to do for the voters of OC?

[Gladiator]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_1...nclick_check=1


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Settlement: OC laborers can seek jobs from streets
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 08/27/2008 09:21:47 PM PDT

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A settlement between day laborers and the Orange County sheriff's office calls for authorities to acknowledge workers' rights to stand on sidewalks and seek work without being harrassed, according to attorneys for the laborers.

The settlement was reached last week but attorneys did not release details until Wednesday. The agreement stems from a federal harrassement lawsuit filed last year by about 50 day laborers against the Sheriff's Department, the county and several individuals over a Lake Forest city ordinance that barred workers from soliciting work on street corners.

The lawsuit alleged deputies violated the workers' right to free speech, intimidated and harassed them. The city later repealed the ordinance and was dropped from the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged deputies violated workers' right to free speech by telling them they couldn't seek work on a street corner. In court papers, deputies said they were responding to residents' complaints that workers were littering and trespassing.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Sheriff's Department agreed that "people have a right to offer themselves for work," and affirmed the right of contractors to solicit workers as long as no law is violated, said Tessie Borden, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the workers.

Borden said the case "was not just a challenge of an existing ordinance. This goes further, establishing an existing and
inviolable right."

According to the agreement, the sheriff's office admitted no wrongdoing and retains authority to enforce laws that prohibit jaywalking, double parking and littering.

S. Frank Harrell, an attorney for the deputies, was not immediately available for comment.