How Immigrant Workers Experience Workplace Problems: A Qualitative Study

In this qualitative study, the authors describe work organization factors, problems workers encounter on the job, consequences of these problems, and actions taken to deal with them. Study participants were immigrant workers seeking assistance at the Chicago Interfaith Workers' Rights Center. Using a grounded theory approach, the investigators coded narratives from 455 records describing workers' problems. Emerged sequences of events were then integrated into a model. Data show that workers' rights are systematically violated and problems are rooted in how jobs are designed and managed. Work organization factors are associated with occupational injury/illness, job loss, and worker actions. Employer responses included indifference and various forms of retaliation. This model provides insight into the work-related troubles immigrants face and informs hypothesis generation and action initiatives.