H-1B Teachers in Newark Win Court Case

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 6:28 PM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Last year, I reported that Vanjani, owner of a bodyshop called Teachers
Placement Group, skimmed 25 percent of of these teacher's salaries in
order to make a cool $1 million.

Vanjani has been fined $120,000 in penalties. All in all, his rate of
return was quite good. Bodyshopping continues to be quite lucrative.

Teachers Placement Group appears in the LCA Database at
www.ZaZona.com/LCA-Data

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-3/104460311430480.xml

Teacher agency fined for labor violations

Company must pay back Newark educators

Friday, February 07, 2003

By IVELISSE DeJESUS
Star-Ledger Staff

A Long Island-based teacher-recruiting agency that placed 15 Indian
teachers in Newark classrooms violated labor laws and will have to pay
the teachers hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages, a
government investigation this week concluded.

The U.S. Department of Labor fined Teachers Placement Group Inc.,
company founder Michael Vanjani and his wife, Radha Vanjani, company
president, $120,000 in penalties for their illegal treatment of the
teachers.

The department also charged the company and the Vanjanis with willfully
failing to pay the teachers wages, discriminating against the teachers
and failing to comply with other immigration laws. The company and the
Vanjanis have been ordered to pay the teachers almost $200,000 in back
wages.

In addition, the Vanjanis will be barred from sponsoring any additional
employees for employment in the United States for up to two years.

"Abuse of the foreign labor certification program undermines the
integrity of the program," said Irv Miljoner, director of the Long
Island district of the department's Wage and Hour Division.

According to the findings, TPG coerced and threatened the teachers with
deportation and reducing their wages below the legally required wage
rate, Miljoner noted.

William Stock, the Vanjanis attorney, said his clients were appealing
the decision. Stock said the labor department had based its decision on
contractual changes made after the teachers were released by TPG and
legal employees of Newark Public Schools.

"It is our position that, since we were not the employers, if there are
any violations they are the school district's," Stock said.

But yesterday, Noor Alam, a math teacher at the West Side 9th Grade
Success Academy, said justice had been served.

"We are very happy that we have been met with justice," he said. "This
country is really a great country which really does justice in a very
short period of time."

Noor and the other 14 teachers were hired in September 2001 as part of
the district's efforts to fill critical math and science teacher
shortages. All came to the country on the three-year special work
permit H-1B visas.

Not long after their arrival, though, the teachers fought to revoke a
contract they claim Vanjani coerced them to sign. Under the terms, the
teachers were obligated to pay him 25 percent of their gross earnings
for the next three years, about $1 million.

The teachers said Vanjani threatened to revoke their visas and send
them back to India if they did not sign the contract.

Vanjani said the teachers had agreed to, and signed, a contract in
India. The fees covered advances on salaries, security deposits on
apartments, unemployment benefits and other costs.

Stock, Vanjani's attorney, said none of the teachers has reimbursed
$21,000 each owes to his client.

A spokesman for the Department of Labor said the department had not
investigated the Vanjanis or their company in any other city.

Newark Teachers Union President Joseph Del Grosso yesterday praised the
teachers.

"They stood up under great pressure," he said. "They were faced with
possible deportation and loss of their jobs, yet they withstood the
challenge and prevailed."

He said several of them had expressed interest in becoming U.S.
citizens.

Ivelisse DeJesus covers education. She may be reached at
idejesus@starledger.com or (973) 392-4154.

Copyright 2003 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

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