IMPACT FUND MAKES GRANT SUPPORTING FILIPINO GUEST WORKERS IN NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS IN DISPUTE WITH FEMA CONTRACTOR, RNV CONSTRUCTION
Berkeley, CA, 11.10.26 — The Impact Fund, the nation’s only charity providing broad support to advance the use of impact litigation as a tool to achieve economic, environmental, racial, and social justice, has just made a grant of $20,000 to help fund a lawsuit protecting the rights of 19 Filipino guest workers in the Northern Mariana Islands against their former employer, a FEMA contractor, for allegedly exploiting its immigrant workforce in violation of U.S. and Filipino law.
“The need for economic, environmental, racial, and social justice is as crucial today as it has ever been,” said Impact Fund Executive Director, Lindsay Nako, adding: “That’s why we remain at the forefront of championing impact litigation as one of the most effective tools to hold the powerful accountable.”
This case challenges an alleged system of labor exploitation affecting migrant workers employed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) under the Commonwealth-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) visa program. The plaintiffs, Filipino construction workers recruited to perform disaster recovery and other construction work, allege that RNV used their dependence on employer-sponsored immigration status to compel them to work under illegal labor conditions.
The lawsuit alleges that workers from the Philippines were enticed with promises of lawful wages, overtime pay, free housing and food, health insurance, and other benefits—all set forth in a written contract approved by Filipino authorities. Once they arrived in Saipan, it is alleged that RNV forced them to sign a different contract with different terms. It is further alleged that RNV then deducted recruitment fees and rent from their paychecks, failed to pay overtime or prevailing wages, and crammed workers into unsanitary dormitories – all while receiving over $80 million in FEMA contracts to repair homes after a typhoon.
Aaron Halegua, who represents the workers, said: “We have requested that the federal court compel RNV to honor the settlement agreement that was already reached to resolve these claims. If the court declines, however, we are prepared to show a CNMI jury how RNV exploited these workers while it collected tens of millions in government contracts. We thank the Impact Fund for its support in the fight to hold RNV accountable.”
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For more information and photography, contact:
Teddy Basham-Witherington 415.845.1206 / twitherington@impactfund.org
About The Impact Fund
The Impact Fund was founded in December 1992 to help advance economic, environmental, racial, and social justice through the courts. Originally envisioned as a purely grantmaking organization, the Impact Fund has made 846 grants totaling $11,143,129.
Since its inception, the Impact Fund has grown to include both advocacy and education in its range of services. Today, the Impact Fund litigates a small number of cases directly, authors amicus briefs, provides a substantial amount of pro-bono consulting, and presents an annual conference for plaintiff-side class action practitioners, a training institute for budding public interest class action practitioners, and numerous seminars and webinars. Click here for our annual report.
What Is Impact Litigation?
Impact Litigation is a lawsuit, often a class action or multi-plaintiff case, where the outcome of the case will advance economic, environmental, and/or social justice for a community or large group of people who may not have access to the courts on their own.