UPDATE:  DEADLINE TO SIGN-UP EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 31, 2005

RE:    Follow-up FLSA lawsuit for Supervisory Immigration Enforcement Agents (SIEA's)

Dear Potential Plaintiff:

            Many of you who have expressed some interest to our office in becoming a plaintiff in the above-mentioned lawsuit have not yet sent in the documentation necessary in order to participate as a named plaintiff.   We hope that this update will provide additional information to assist you in your determination as to whether or not you should participate in this lawsuit.   As you know, our office is interested in filing a follow-up lawsuit on behalf of Supervisory Detention Enforcement Officers and Detention Operations Supervisors who were re-classified as Supervisory Immigration Enforcement Agents (SIEA’s) and whom the Government refused to pay FLSA overtime.

 Undoubtedly by now, you have received our September 16, 2005 correspondence regarding information on how to become a plaintiff in the above-mentioned lawsuit.  We enclosed along with that correspondence, in essence, a warning from the Government that threatened to return SIEA’s to a lower GS level should it be determined that it owed SIEA’s FLSA overtime.  At this point, based on the number of plaintiff’s who have indicated an interest to move forward, we have decided to proceed in filing this lawsuit.  As such, regardless of whether or not you choose to participate, if it is determined that the Government owes FLSA overtime to participating SIEA’s, there is the possibility that the Government could return your job classification to a lower GS level, as this would likely happen to all SIEA’s and not just to those who chose to participate in this lawsuit.  Therefore, by failing to participate, or take any other action, you may be waiving your right to some or all of the past FLSA overtime that may ultimately be awarded to you during the time you were an SIEA. 

 In order to allow you the fullest opportunity to join this lawsuit, we have extended the deadline to provide the requisite documentation, as indicated in our previous correspondence, by two weeks, or no later than October 31, 2005.  Failure to provide all of the requisite documentation by the deadline may exclude you as a plaintiff in this lawsuit.  After we file the complaint in this lawsuit, we will send a letter of acknowledgment to all the plaintiffs involved. Until you receive such a letter, we have not filed this matter on your behalf and have assumed no responsibility for doing so. 

Please continue to check our website for the latest information concerning the status of this lawsuit.  In the meantime, should you have any questions, or wish to request the documentation necessary to participate in this lawsuit, please contact our office at (858) 467-1199 or via email to attorney Brad Fields at Brad@coplaw.org or paralegal Catherine Bond at Cathy@coplaw.org.