India workers win $20m US settlement

Some 200 Indian workers have won a $20m (£12.8m) claim against a US company for defrauding and exploiting them.

The workers were brought to US to repair damaged oil rigs

The workers were brought to the US in 2006 by a shipbuilding firm to repair damaged oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina, reports say.

They allegedly paid between $10,000-$20,000 each in fees and costs after they were promised jobs and permanent US residency.

Hurricane Katrina claimed 1,300 lives and displaced thousands in 2005.

The Press Trust of India reported that the Alabama-based Signal International was found guilty by a federal jury for defrauding and exploiting workers brought from India.

Many of the workers sold property and borrowed money to pay the fees to labour recruiters and a lawyer, according to a statement issued by the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), a civil rights law firm.

However, when the men arrived from India in 2006, they discovered that they would not receive the green cards or the permanent residency that had been promised.

Reports say the workers also paid $1,050 a month to the firm to live in "isolated, guarded labour camps".

"The workers have waited seven long years for justice. The agreement and [an] apology from the company will allow the workers to finally move on with their lives," Jim Knoepp of SPLC told the Press Trust of India.