WICHITA, Kansas (AP) – Workers who filed a class-action lawsuit against a south-central Kansas slaughterhouse for unpaid wages and overtime want to bar the company from discovering their immigration status during the litigation.

The employees have asked a federal judge to prohibit Creekstone Farms Premium Beef from receiving any information such as their current names or others they may have used, their place of birth or their Social Security number.

They also don’t want to release documents revealing their immigration status.

Their attorney said Tuesday that courts have found that allowing discovery of immigration status may motivate employers to hire undocumented workers whom they could scare away from enforcing their labor rights.

But the attorney for Creekstone Farms argued the questions the company is asking are no different from those asked in any collective action