Immigrant family sues bakery over working conditions
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A family of Ecuadorean immigrants has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the owners of a Connecticut bakery shop where they worked of sexually and verbally abusing them for years.
They also accuse the owners of Rocco's Bakery in New Haven of refusing to pay the minimum wage or overtime and threatening to have them deported if they complained.
The unusual lawsuit by undocumented immigrants was filed earlier this month under the federal Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act. The law was designed to fight what the lawsuit calls a modern form of slavery in which victims are forced to work for illegally low wages.
Human traffickers often target vulnerable workers such as the plaintiffs who are from a foreign country, have limited education and speak little or no English, the lawsuit says.
"We want to demonstrate to them it's possible to come out of the shadows and stand up for themselves and that there are people who will help," Peter Goselin, attorney for the immigrants, said Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed by Olger Nestor Urena Flores and members of his family against Antonio DiBenedetto and his wife Anna, who own Rocco's and a bread-making factory in Meriden. The defendants themselves are immigrants, Goselin said.
"I'm evaluating the claim to see if there is any merit at all to it," said Hugh Keefe, attorney for the bakery shop owners. "I am looking forward to taking their depositions."
A message for the DiBenedettos was left at the bakery Tuesday.
The lawsuit seeks damages for at least $38,000 in back wages as well as damages for suffering and emotional distress.
Nestor Urena came to the United States 14 years ago and was hired by Antonio DiBenedetto to work at the bakery. DiBenedetto told Nestor Urena that he would hire his family members to work at the bakery if they came to Connecticut from Ecuador, according to the lawsuit.
Two of his children began working full time at the bakery at 13 and 14. They were responsible for lifting and moving large quantities of flour and other ingredients, baking breads and operating and maintaining industrial baking machines, according to the lawsuit.
The defendants allegedly controlled the immigrants and forced them to continue working at the bakery by renting apartments to them above and next to the bakery. The owners insisted the immigrants not open their door to anyone and prohibited them from bringing guests to their apartments, the lawsuit says.
Antonio DiBenedetto groped the female immigrants and pushed one woman into an office where he tried to take off her clothes and sexually assault her, but the woman escaped by calling for the help of a co-worker, the lawsuit alleges.
DiBenedetto also forced female employees to watch him undress and walked around naked in front of them, the lawsuit alleges. He was also accused of telling the female employees that he would loan them money or not charge them rent if they engaged in sex.
The immigrants worked up to 12 hours per day, six days per week, but were denied lunch and bathroom breaks and were not paid the minimum wage or overtime, according to the lawsuit.
Last year, one of the women who is suing attended a rally to support New Haven becoming the first city in the nation to give identification cards to illegal immigrants. When her photo appeared in the newspaper the next day, DiBenedetto screamed at her and became so physically threatening that the woman tried to call police but misdialed, according to the lawsuit.
Fearing for their safety, the immigrants contacted immigration officials in the spring and fled their jobs and apartments in the middle of the night, traveling in unmarked government cars to live in hiding at an undisclosed location where they remain, the lawsuit says.
