In New Jersey and throughout the U.S., labor laws afford us the civil rights to work in environments free of discrimination and sexual harassment, and to earn certain wages and take leaves of absence, among other things. In recent years, employment law has been a catalyst to protect human rights as well as civil rights.

To this end, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been bringing civil actions against employers that are suspected of human trafficking. As an EEOC representative recently explained during a panel, while human trafficking may be a serious matter of criminal law, it also overlaps with employment law.

The EEOC is employing anti-discrimination and anti-sexual harassment laws as important weapons in the fight against human trafficking. Human trafficking is essentially the exploitation of a person for the purposes of labor or sex.

When employers use force or coercion to compel labor or exploit workers, they are often practicing discrimination on the basis of national origin or race, and/or engaging in an extreme form of sexual harassment. For example, enslaved sex workers are victims of extreme sexual harassment.

Victims of human trafficking may often be subjected to a number of employment rights violations – from withheld wages, to workplace safety issues to discriminatory treatment. It may be feasible for the EEOC to hold employers responsible for these violations, and obtain remedies for victims, regardless of whether criminal trafficking charges are pursued against the employers.

While this EEOC approach is still somewhat novel, it has been successful as the burden of proof is lower in employment actions than criminal cases. Employment complaints can be pursued against such employers regardless of whether criminal cases exist.

Those who have experienced trafficking, or any type of workplace harassment, or discrimination may benefit from legal counsel.

Source: ABA Journal, “EEOC is using labor law to bring civil actions against suspected human traffickers,” Terry Carter, Aug. 11, 2013