Army Translators File False Imprisonment Class Action Lawsuit

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A number of translators and interpreters have filed a false imprisonment class action lawsuit against their employer Global Linguist Solutions (GLS) after this group was allegedly held against their will in a U.S. military base in poor conditions and denied medical care.

The Army translators false imprisonment class action lawsuit alleges that of the 120 contracted workers held against their will at U.S. military bases, 40 of these linguists were forced to live in a 3,000 square foot tent in substandard conditions and denied medical care even when a number of them became ill with various infections including pneumonia.

Lead plaintiffs Alfred Zaklit, Hany Shaker and Mokhtar Farag filed this false imprisonment class action lawsuit in Virginia federal court and are seeking to certify a Class that would potentially include 120 U.S. translators who had signed contracts to provide linguistic support and were allegedly held in two different Kuwait military bases after their passports were illegally revoked.

According to the Army translators false imprisonment class action lawsuit, “Plaintiffs and Class Members did not know when they were hired that their employment with GLS would be unlawful in Kuwait and leave them confined against their will in crammed and abominable substandard living conditions without proper medical care.” The plaintiffs allege, “This was because GLS concealed from Plaintiffs and Class Members that GLS’s sponsorship agreement with Al Shora International General Trading & Contracting (“Al Shora”) had ended, and that GLS had not satisfied Kuwaiti immigration requirements when GLS forced Plaintiffs and Class members to sign new employment contracts in 2013[.]”

Zaklit, Shaker, and Farag had all allegedly been originally hired and contracted by Englity around 2012 and were then subcontracted out to GLS as part of a military linguist service contract. When the group of linguists and translators were subcontracted out to GLS, they were forced to sign new contracts which excluded various benefits afforded to these workers under the original Englity contract, including base salaries, hardship pay, meals, vacation, and bonuses.

Zaklit, Shaker, and Farag have filed this Army translators class action lawsuit in order to represent themselves and four subclass of translators and interpreters, which would include a false imprisonment Class, fraud Class, intention infliction of emotional distress Class, and breach of contract Class.

While there are slight variations among the definition of the subclasses, the base Class definition would include, “All current and/or former employees that worked for GLS as Linguists in Kuwait from December 2012 to December 2013 and were barred from leaving the U.S. Army Bases in Kuwait.”

GLS has submitted a motion to dismiss the false imprisonment and related allegations of emotional distress, negligent hiring, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract charges lodged against them by this group of translators and interpreters. While a number of these allegations were previously dismissed earlier this year by U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris, he allowed the Zaklit plaintiffs to amend their false imprisonment class action lawsuit and create a stronger case with more detailed pleadings.

The plaintiffs are represented by John B. Simpson of MartinWren PC and Sang J. Park of Carlin & Buchsbaum LLP.

The Army Translators False Imprisonment Class Action Lawsuit is Zaklit, et al. v. Global Linguist Solutions LLC, Case No. 1:14-cv-00314, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.