The Oyster Bay Town Board in a March 2009 meeting approved an ordinance prohibiting “standing on the sidewalk to solicit employment”, as well as “barring motorists from stopping to solicit employment or hiring workers”, in an effort to drive out a group of Latino day laborers who had been gathering at a public thoroughfare in this Long Island village to seek work for many years. A complaint challenging the ordinance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution was filed in Spring 2010. The Court granted Plaintiffs’ a temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the ordinance, which was affirmed on appeal.

After protracted discovery, the parties cross-moved for summary judgment in 2014. The Court on September 3, 2015 issued a decision granting plaintiffs summary judgment and permanently enjoining the underlying ordinance as overly broad in violation of First Amendment protections. The Second Circuit in a split decision on August 22, 2027 affirmed the District Court’s September 2015 decision that had struck down and permanently enjoined the town’s ban on day laborers soliciting work on public roads and sidewalks.

Plaintiffs attorneys’ fee petition is still pending.