Lawyer Joe Sayas, Jr. receives Presidential Award as the ‘voice of Filipinos in U.S. courtrooms’

Joe Sayas Jr. holds a press conference after the court reached a $2-million settlement in a police brutality case where the victim is a mentally disabled Filipino man.

Joe Sayas Jr. holds a press conference after the court reached a $2-million settlement in a police brutality case where the victim is a mentally disabled Filipino man.

By Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko, Ph.D.

L.A. lawyer Joe Sayas, Jr. has rendered more than a quarter of a century of service, championing the cause of the working class. Described as “the voice of Filipinos in U.S. courtrooms,” he was recently awarded the 2018 Presidential Awards bestowed in Malacañang on 25 “outstanding” overseas Filipinos and foreign-based organizations.

“A litigation attorney straight out of a John Grisham novel…who champions the rights of the underprivileged and the minorities, and served as the voice of Filipinos in U.S. courtrooms.” That’s Joe the way Philippine officialdom saw him.

One does not speak of Joe without mention of the massive amount of settlement he has recovered for his clients, close to $125 million.

Those intangible facets of Joe’s adherence to the rule of law have zeroed in on his efforts in fearlessly challenging corporate violations.

As the lead counsel in one of the most recognized class action suits that had long questioned the employee status for some 500 truck drivers, Joe challenged the companies’ business practice in classifying drivers as independent contractors in the Long Beach/Los Angeles and Oakland ports in the state of California.

Photo by Ding Carreon

Photo by Ding Carreon

Sparked by his own convictions, as he continued to be faced by the ever-lengthy claims sought by the same group of drivers, he won and obtained a federal court judgment for the workers: A ruling that they are indeed employees as a matter of law. It was a landmark case in the trucking industry.

More pluses resulted in establishing a major precedent in the legal right to address changes. It did not just put a halt to some firms’ well-known efforts in deducting fuel and insurance costs from drivers. That change was key to the occupational status which made it possible for the drivers to work in “collective negotiation” for key benefits that had never, never come their way at all.

One victorious plus mattered: The drivers obtained health insurance benefits not solely for themselves, but their families as well. The winning workers likewise received retirement benefits, paid medical and vacation leaves, pay for each hour when work was rendered, and above all, in securing the protection due them from the Workers Compensation, as defined by law.

Another striking achievement garnered by Joe Sayas’s legal team was the recovery of $11,040.000.00, an amount that represents the highest class action settlement in the history of port trucking.

Pluses through more legal action came through when some port companies followed defendants. They shared how victory came among other pursuits by employees who were coming from other sources of employment: nurses; technicians; salespersons; couriers; security guards; including those employed in offices, hospitals, aerospace, supermarkets, laboratories, restaurants and warehouse facilities.

Joe’s legal crusade continues for those invoking their civil rights. He and his team, very recently, won a $2-million recovery for the family of a mentally disabled man who was brutally killed by a police officer.

Despite all his outstanding victories Joe continues his crusade on behalf of immigrant workers who have survived mercilessly labor human trafficking, including employees who were unlawfully discriminated due to their disability, race, national origin or gender.

A long-time jurist was asked what he thought of Joe Sayas. He did not hesitate to say how Lawyer Sayas is proud of his academic background as an alumnus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. He underscored how Joe practices his profession as a true Filipino inspired by the values of his ancestral homeland.

He is the veritable pride of Filipino Americans who do their civic work as they respond affirmatively to the call of community life in a nation away from their birthplace.

© The FilAm 2019

In 2017, he  donated $10,000 to the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) to support a campaign  to educate workers, especially the undocumented who need to be aware that they have rights.

In 2017, he donated $10,000 to the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) to support a campaign to educate workers, especially the undocumented who need to be aware they too have rights.



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