By Linda Taaffe

Los Altos police cannot ticket day laborers for seeking employment along city streets until a pending lawsuit challenging the city’s anti-solicitation ordinance is settled in court, a federal judge decided last Friday.

Judge Jeremy Fogel said the portion of the ordinance relating to restricting day laborers was too broad, according to court documents.

He denied the city’s motion to dismiss an injunction that a group of day worker advocates suing the city filed last April to prohibit Los Altos officials from banning workers from seeking work along city streets.

Fogel encouraged city officials to amend the ordinance and meet with day laborer representatives to find a resolution.

Attorneys from Morrison & Foerster and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund representing the Workers Commission and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul claim that the continued enforcement of the ordinance during the pending lawsuit has caused workers irreparable harm, scaring away potential employers.

Local day workers sued the city Feb. 20, hoping that the city would repeal the law.

Workers claim that the No Vehicle Solicitation Ordinance is a violation of their free speech rights.