Class action says union representatives shut the doors, killed the lights and confined new employees — even refusing a bathroom break request — to coerce IHSS employees into signing before they could leave

Santa Ana, CA — The Freedom Foundation has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of two Orange County caregivers, accusing United Domestic Workers of America, AFSCME Local 3930 (UDW) of illegal imprisonment after dozens of new employees were confined to a room until they agreed to sign union paperwork.

Plaintiffs David Rowe and Launa Verity, who together care for their nonverbal autistic son and Verity’s mother, say the ordeal unfolded during a mandatory new-employee orientation for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers on Aug. 4, 2025. 

According to the complaint, filed on Aug. 11 of this year, UDW representatives closed the doors once everyone was inside, then announced that no one could leave until every attendee had signed papers the union official was passing around. 

When the presentation started, the lights went out — the room had no windows, so the only light came from a projector screen. One man asked to step out to use the restroom. 

He was told no. Nobody was leaving, a UDW representative said, “…until we’re done here.”

Rowe and Verity signed rather than jeopardize their new jobs. They say the entire episode lasted about 35 minutes — plenty of time, they note, for a parent to spend wondering whether their child was safe at home.

“These are people who just want to work by taking care of their families — some of the most vulnerable families in the state,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe. “For their trouble, they were held against their will in a dark room and strongarmed into signing something they never got to read. That’s not persuasion. That’s intimidation and coercion.”

The Freedom Foundation filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court, naming UDW and the Orange County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority (OCPA) as defendants. 

It raises claims of false imprisonment, a violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, and breach of a mandatory duty owed by OCPA to properly oversee the orientation.

“California law is actually very clear here,” said Shella Alcabes, the Freedom Foundation attorney representing the plaintiffs. “IHSS providers don’t have to sit through the union portion of orientation at all if they don’t want to. UDW didn’t just skip past that right, they used the setting to make people believe they had no choice but to comply. Turning off the lights and refusing to let people leave isn’t a gray area — it’s false imprisonment, and we intend to prove it.”

The Freedom Foundation is seeking damages from UDW on behalf of the plaintiffs and other public employees, along with declaratory and injunctive relief against both defendants. 

The complaint asks the court to certify a class covering other employees confined by UDW.