Suit claims Mowhawk keeps wages down by hiring illegal immigrants

<p>Three former workers and a current employee at Mohawk Industries have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the carpet manufacturer of keeping wages down by hiring illegal immigrants.</p><p>The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court claims that the company recruits the employees and accepts identity documents it knows to be fraudulent. It claims a pattern of illegal activity that violates the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, known as RICO, which is sometimes used by the government against mobsters.</p><p>Mohawk, headquartered in Calhoun, Ga., is the nations second largest carpet manufacturer. It employs about 31,800 workers and reported $4.5 billion in revenue last year.</p><p>The companys general counsel, Sal Perillo, said the allegations are totally unfounded.</p><p>Ive read the charges and theyre preposterous, Perillo said. We are going to vigorously defend ourselves.</p><p>Bobby Lee Cook, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said Mohawk has hired hundreds and hundreds of illegal immigrants because it can pay them less and because illegal immigrants are unlikely to pursue workers compensation claims if hurt on the job.</p><p>Mohawk has saved millions of dollars by employing illegal workers, Cook told the Rome News-Tribune. Those savings have come at the expense of legal, hourly workers, who are paid less than they should be.</p><p>Cook said the practice is common throughout northwest Georgia and accused the government of not making sufficient efforts to enforce immigration laws.</p><p>The lawsuit is the fifth initiated nationally by Howard Foster, a Chicago attorney who specializes in class-action racketeering lawsuits. He has alleged that companies broke racketeering laws by hiring illegal immigrants in lawsuits against a cleaning company in White Plains, N.Y.; an apple grower in Yakima, Wash.; a meatpacking plant in Joslin, Ill., and Tyson Foods Inc., the poultry processing giant based in Springdale, Ark.</p><p>Federal judges dismissed all four lawsuits, but appellate courts reinstated two and will decide soon on whether to reinstate the other two, Foster said. The parties have settled one of the reinstated lawsuits, but an agreement prevents them from discussing the terms.</p><p>The federal government said last year that about 7 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States in 2000. That number includes an estimated 228,000 illegal immigrants in Georgia, up from 34,00 in 1990.</p>

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