Hearing on Adequacy of Labor Law Enforcement in New Orleans

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, breaking levees and flooding New Orleans with more than 100 billion gallons of water. The flooding killed at least 1,400 people in Louisiana, half of whom were from New Orleans, and left hundreds of thousands of others homeless

The multi-billion dollar federal effort to clean up and rebuild New Orleans was accompanied by the President’s suspension of numerous labor laws and the influx of labor from neighboring states and countries. A number of Gulf Coast advocates claim that the interplay of the suspension of prevailing wage requirements, affirmative action requirements, health and safety standards requirements, and documentation requirements have contributed to an environment of virtual lawlessness in New Orleans. This hearing sought to examine the adequacy of labor law enforcement on the part of the DOL Wage and Hour Division.

The following witnesses testified:

• Mr. Jeffrey Steele, Former employee of the Army Corps. of Engineers
• Mr. Ted Smukler, Director of Public Policy, Immigrant Worker Justice
• Ms. Jennifer Rosenbaum, Staff attorney, Immigrant Justice Project, Southern Poverty Law Center
• Mr. Saket Soni and Mr. Jacob Horowitz, New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice

• Mr. Paul DeCamp, Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, Department of Labor

• Ms. Tracie Washington, President and CEO, Louisiana Justice Institute
• Ms. Catherine Ruckelshaus, Litigation Director, National Employment Law Project