Human Trafficking Survivors File Class Action Against Oklahoma Business Owners

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The owners and operators of several Clinton, Oklahoma hospitality businesses are facing a proposed class action lawsuit brought on behalf of human trafficking survivors from the Philippines who the case alleges were exploited by the defendants for cheap labor.

The lawsuit’s three named plaintiffs allege the defendants—Hotelmacher LLC, which does business as Holiday Inn Express; Steakmacher, LLC, which does business as Montana Mike’s Steakhouse; Schumacher Investments, LLC, which does business as Water Zoo; Apex USA, Inc., and the businesses’ two owners—promised proposed class members full-time work, good pay, nearly free housing, and, perhaps most appealing, stability. Instead, proposed class members—Filipino nationals—were brought to Oklahoma and allegedly required to pay “substantial” recruitment, processing and travel fees, as well as forced to work under conditions that resembled nothing like those that were promised. The lawsuit describes the alleged “scheme” run by the defendants as one aimed to frighten and intimidate proposed class members, as well as render them powerless to leave the defendants’ employment.

“[The defendants] intentionally created a situation where [the plaintiffs] and the putative class members were working few hours for little pay, barely earning enough to survive, let along leave Clinton or cover the thousands of dollars they paid in recruitment fees and travel expenses,” the 42-page complaint reads. “This left [the plaintiffs] and the putative class members with no choice but to labor for [the defendants] on [their] terms.”

The lawsuit’s allegations stem from the defendants’ alleged abuse of H-2B visas provided to workers under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The defendants allegedly intentionally misrepresented H-2B visa requirements by failing to pay workers at previously agreed upon wage rates, as well as hiding from the plaintiffs the extent of the significant financial burden and lengthy process linked to obtaining an H-2B visa. All told, the lawsuit claims the defendants manipulated the H-2B visa program to provide their businesses a “disposable and malleable pool of labor” that could be used as they saw fit.