Nicole Hallett '03 Tells NPR of Lawsuit in Which She Represents Guest Workers

February 8, 2007

February 8, 2007, Greencastle, Ind. - "Although this is an extreme case, abuse of this type happens -- to varying degrees -- all the time," Nicole Hallett, a 2003 graduate of DePauw University, tells National Public Radio. Hallett, now a law student at Yale University, was interviewed for a story on a lawsuit filed by a dozen Guatemalans who are suing a labor contractor and a commercial nursery in Connecticut, claiming they're victims of fraud and exploitation. Hallett is part of the legal team representing the guest workers.

The introduction to the NPR story states, "A group of 12 Guatemalans who came to the United States on work visas thought they had good jobs in North Carolina. Instead, they were whisked off to Connecticut to labor for as little as $2 an hour. Now they're suing their employer."

Hallett -- who majored in philosophy at DePauw and was a Truman Scholar, Luce Scholar and Rector Scholar and graduated summa cum laude -- hopes publicity the case receives will benefit others in the future. "If it's more well known then employers won't be able to use these tactics anymore," she says in the report.