JUSTICE ISSUES, CASE STUDY OF VERONICA

JUSTICE ISSUES, CASE STUDY OF VERONICA

Justice Issues

Undocumented Immigrants are mostly vulnerable of harassments and mistreatments because many of them are not able to speak English and may not be in a position to understand the laws protecting them in United States (Nessel, 2011).  They are also afraid of reporting acts of injustices to the police or other relevant authorities because of their fear of being deported once they come into a lime light. Such fears make most of them to suffer in silence at workplaces or remain in abusive relationships just as it has been revealed in the scenario of Veronica.

In United States, Title VII of civil rights Act protects all the employees against any form of mistreatments and discrimination (Cunningham, 2016). However, there has been a dilemma on whether this federal Act still covers citizens whose immigration status are undocumented and that has exposed many of them into a risk of harassment and mistreatments in their working environments just like in the case of Veronica. What most of the undocumented  immigrants don’t realize is that Title VII of civil rights extends widely to cover them as it applies to all employed citizens thus it comes to play just after an employment contract is signed. So, once an undocumented immigrant is hired, he or she is accorded all the protections under Title VII of federal Act just like any other U.S worker.

Steps to Bring Back Justice to Veronica

For that matter, Veronica should be free to report her boss to the relevant authorities because immigration status does not come into play to investigations and filing of mistreatment complaints with federal and state agencies like EEOC (Cunningham, 2016). What Veronica should understand in order to erase her fear on reporting her matter is that immigration status would only be considered at the compliance stage and which entails reinstatement and back pay. Since her case does not touch any of these two, she should be free to report her case. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not consider immigration status of any worker in regard to enforcing labor rights.

            I would advise Veronica to file an EEOC complaint against her employer for harassing her sexually (Cunningham, 2016). Through that, the EEOC would investigate the charges of her harassment to see if the employer is guilty for the allegations. Definitely, if the employer is found guilty would be charged in according to federal Act Title VII which protects the employees against all forms of mistreatments by their employers.

            Alternatively, I would also advise her to file her claims with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) in the Department of Justice and which deals with Immigration-related Unfair Employment Practices. OSC would investigate her charges of harassment in relation to immigration status for her to be served with the necessary justice (Cunningham, 2016).

Social Work Roles Helpful to Veronica

From the case study, due to her experience in the workplace, Veronica is undergoing depression. And considering the fact that depression is an insidious and an isolating disorder which may easily tempt her to commit suicide, as a social worker I would help her conquer the situation by always being there for her (Haverkampf, 2017). This is the best thing that can be done to anyone suffering from depression because it brings a feeling of being cared for. Being there for her and helping her out through encouragements would help her adjust her emotions which would otherwise tempt her to harm herself.

I would also devote myself to let her know about support services like visiting mental health professionals and counselling sessions when her condition goes to extreme levels. Because she is also unemployed at the moment, to access these support services would be difficulty as she may be lacking finances and therefore I would also support him financial to be able to access the services (Haverkampf, 2017).

As a friend, she is likely to share her feelings to me openly and therefore I would ensure that I take her feelings seriously for her to feel that she is still important despite of her challenging situation. I would also encourage her constantly in regard to her jobless status that being jobless is not the end of life and that she will acquire another job (Haverkampf, 2017). In regard to her harassment concern, I would encourage her that justice would be served to her in due time after she has reported the matter to the relevant authorities. Through these approaches, she would restore her hope and the situation may diminish with time.

Beneficial Policies in Veronica’s Life

Clearly, undocumented immigrants are termed as illegal citizens in US and so Veronica should have followed the immigration policies to acquire citizenship in United States during her stay of 10 years as acquiring citizenship in US regardless of the country of origin have been allowed according to immigration policies of the country (Cunningham, 2016). Through the acquisition of citizenship in US would have guaranteed her remedy after the assaults in addition to the basic protection she enjoys at the moment. However, being an immigrant does not guaranteed her employer to mistreat her because Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy is there to ensure that labor rights of all the workers are respected regardless of their immigration status. She should therefore approach the body and report her case and would be taken care of.

References

Cunningham, W. M. (2016). The jobs act. In The JOBS Act(pp. 3-35). Apress, Berkeley, CA.

Haverkampf, C. J. (2017). Communication-Focused Therapy (CFT) for Depression. J Psychiatry Psychotherapy Communication, 6(4), 101-104.

Nessel, L. A. (2011). Undocumented immigrants in the workplace: The fallacy of labor     protection and the need for reform. Immigr. & Nat’lity L. Rev., 22, 303.

Sabo, S., Shaw, S., Ingram, M., Teufel-Shone, N., Carvajal, S., de Zapien, J. G., … & Rubio-        Goldsmith, R. (2014). Everyday violence, structural racism and mistreatment at the US–   Mexico border. Social Science & Medicine, 109, 66-74.