Labor Trafficking Lawsuit

Labor trafficking is a type of human trafficking where people are forced to work against their will. It also encompasses sex trafficking. A person doesn’t need to move from one location to another to meet the definition of labor trafficking.

Typically, victims are paid poorly or not at all. Victims are often forced into agriculture, domestic servitude, hospitality, manufacturing, commercial sex work and other industries.

Perpetrators use a variety of methods to force victims to work:

• Coercion: Forced to agree to a job without being allowed to review the details. They might also be pressured to pay recruitment fees.
• Debt forgiveness: Selling a family member to clear a debt. This happens to children and adult family members.
• Fraud: False promises of a better life, good living conditions and other benefits. In this case, victims are recruited from outside the U.S.

Labor traffickers might use threats of physical violence, sexual violence or deportation to compel victims to cooperate. Exploiting people for labor is a violation of federal law.

Learn more about human trafficking.

Labor trafficking statistics

Experts believe that forced labor is underreported. Still, a few statistics illustrate the scope of the labor exploitation problem.

• 95% of defendants charged with federal human trafficking crimes were U.S. citizens
• In 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received reports of 1,558 labor trafficking situations involving 6,676 adults and 2,535 minors in the U.S.
• Approximately 58% of forced labor victims globally are female
• Each year, the U.S. imports nearly $170 billion in goods that might be produced by forced labor

Combating forced labor in America

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) was the first major Congressional effort to modernize the state of human trafficking. Before the TVPA passed, most criminal cases relied on old statutes dating to the 1860s. TVPA created a framework of three elements to fight human trafficking:

• Protection: Increased assistance for foreign nationals and nonimmigrant status holders who are trafficked to the U.S.
• Prevention: Creating federal agencies and task forces that combat trafficking and improve economic opportunities for potential victims to deter trafficking
• Prosecution: New anti-trafficking laws, restitution for victims, harsher penalties

Many industries are associated with the use of forced labor. Some of these industries may take advantage of policies that inadvertently create opportunities for labor traffickers.

For example, labor traffickers can take advantage of people in work visa programs. The H-2A, J-1 and A-3/G-5 and H-2B visa programs may enable traffickers to exploit people in several fields, ranging from au pairs to diplomats to farmworkers.

Here are industries frequently linked to forced labor:

• Agriculture/farming
• Cleaning services
• Commercial fishing
• Construction
• Domestic servants
• Hospitality
• Entertainment
• Manufacturing
• Restaurants/food service

Not all labor trafficking jobs involve manual labor or low pay. Former Harrod’s employees allege they were labor trafficking victims who were recruited through the luxury store’s executive training program.

Many red flags are associated with forced labor situations. They include:

• Dangerous working conditions
• Isolated, crowded or dangerous living conditions
• Employers who monitor workers when they interact with other people
• Loss of control of passports or other personal documents
• Debt to employers or absence of salary or benefits promised
• Pressure by employers to stay in a job or situation, sometimes under threat of deportation or physical harm

If you see signs of forced labor, you can report the situation to the National Human Trafficking Hotline noted below. Don’t attempt to assist the victim yourself. The hotline’s staff members can connect with local law enforcement and help victims with shelter, healthcare and other essential services.

You can remain anonymous if you make a report to the hotline about an adult victim. Hotline staff members are mandatory reporters, meaning they’re required to report your name and other identifying information to local law enforcement or Child Protective Services in situations involving minors.

National Human Trafficking Hotline contact information

Here’s how to reach the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Interpreters are available.

• Phone (available 24/7): 1-888-373-7888
• Text: 233733 (message and data rates apply)
• Online chat: humantraffickinghotline.org/chat
• Online reporting form: https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/report-trafficking

Victims of any type of human trafficking can file lawsuits to seek justice. Defendants in an anti-trafficking lawsuit could include companies that knowingly used trafficked laborers or property owners that allowed people to be trafficked on their properties. A human rights attorney at Motley Rice can evaluate your case.

Motley Rice attorneys have extensive experience litigating and investigating human rights cases, both in the United States and across the world. Our firm’s involvement with a civil complaint against several United Arab Emirates (UAE) leaders led to significant changes for boys who were kidnapped, trafficked and enslaved to work as jockeys in camel races. The civil suit was dismissed, but it led to the UAE working with UNICEF to return trafficked and enslaved children to their home countries and compensate them for injuries they suffered.

Learn more about our experience with human rights cases.