A teachers union has filed complaints with state authorities alleging a company that recruits Filipino teachers for Louisiana schools is operating illegally in the state, and charging the teachers exorbitant, illegal fees. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers says the teachers were cheated out of thousands of dollars. The LFT filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s Office and the Louisiana Workforce Commission against Universal Placement International of Los Angeles.
The complaints were filed on behalf of Filipino teachers working in Caddo, East Baton Rouge and Jefferson parishes and in state-run schools in New Orleans. The company did not respond to a telephone request for comment from its director.
The union says the teachers should be relieved from their contracts binding them to Universal and that Universal should refund approximately $15,000 in fees that each teacher allegedly paid to be hired.
According to the complaint to the Workforce Commission, there are more than 200 Filipino schoolteachers working in at least five school systems in Louisiana, including the four mentioned in the complaint, plus Avoyelles Parish. The union alleges teacher recruits in the Philippines were initially charged $6,600 in fees covering costs including training, travel, medical exams, legal fees and visas.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School System quit using Universal for teacher placement about a year and a half ago, says Chris Trahan, a spokesman for the district. Before that, when the Filipino teachers came to East Baton Rouge officials with complaints, they were referred to one of the unions or to private attorneys, he says.
