Typhoon Restaurant sued by Immigrant Workers
Recent Cases
A worker claims managers of the Typhoon! restaurant chain abusedimmigrant workers, confiscated their passports, denied them overtimeand medical care, threatened to deport them if they complained, openedtheir mail, stole their tax returns, forced them "to kowtow to theowners and purchase presents for them," and claimed to have "paid offthe Department of Homeland Security to do whatever defendants want."
SarinyaReabroy sued the nine-restaurant chain and its managers, Steve Klineand Bo Kline, in Federal Court. She says that in 2003, Bo Kline inducedher to emigrate from Thailand, where she had a good job. Upon arrivingin Portland, she says, she and her co-workers were subjected tointolerable and illegal conditions.
She claims "Typhoon! ruledthe workplace with iron fists of intimidation, coercion and harassment,targeting their Thai workers" with the abuses mentioned above, andthese abuses:
subjecting them to dangerous working conditions;
"tellingThai workers that defendant Bo Kline was 'Queen of immigration' andthat defendants have paid off the Department of Homeland Security to dowhatever defendants want;"
threatening to sue them and their families if they complained;
forbidding Thai workers to talk with "white people;"
"intentionallydeceiving Thai workers about the overtime investigation conducted bythe United States Department of Labor in 2004-2004 and the subsequentpayment by Typhoon! of $120,000 to settle the matter;"
"threatening to blacklist Thai workers for all employers both within the United States and abroad;"
"forbiddinginjured Thai workers from seeing or treating with health careprofessionals and/or refusing them access to first aid;"
"throwing dishes, utensils and food at them and propositioning them for sex;"
"displaying beheaded and dismembered Buddhas in a manner offensive to Thai workers who were of the Buddhist faith;"
"forcing the Thai workers to kowtow to the owners and purchase presents for them;"
"confiscating Thai workers' tax returns;"
and in other ways.She wants punitive damages and statutory and liquidated damages. She is represented by Beth Creighton
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Workers’ Compensation Subrogation of Administrative Fees and Costs
When a worker covered by workers’ compensation makes a claim against a third party, the workers’ compensation insurance retains the right to subrogate against any recovery from that third party for all benefits paid to or on behalf of a claimant injured at work. When subrogating for more than basic medical and indemnity benefits, the Texas workers’ compensation subrogation statute provides that “the net amount recovered by a claimant in a third‑party action shall be used to reimburse the carrier for benefits, including medical benefits that have been paid for the compensable injury.” TX Labor Code § 417.002.
In fact, all 50 states provide for similar subrogation. However, none of them precisely outlines which payments or costs paid by a compensation carrier constitute “compensation” and can be recovered. The result is industry-wide confusion and an ongoing debate and argument with claimants’ attorneys over what can and can’t be included in a carrier’s lien for recovery purposes.
In addition to medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages and loss of earning capacity resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, nurse case worker fees, and other similar fees. They also incur other expenses in conjunction with the handling and adjusting of workers’ compensation claims. Workers’ compensation carriers typically assert, of course, that, they are entitled to reimbursement for such expenditures when it recovers its workers’ compensation lien. Injured workers and their attorneys disagree.