Two federal investigations have recovered $540,221 in wages for 268 H-2A workers from farm labor contractors in North Carolina and Florida.
Investigators with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Arcadia,Fla.-based Becerra Enterprises Inc., owner Luis A. Becerra and his son, Luis A. Becerra Jr., recruited, hired, housed and transported H-2A workers to harvest sweet potatoes, cucumbers and tobacco at Blake Edwards Roberson Farms and Taylor Grimes Farms in Robersonville, N.C., and Anderson Farms in Tarboro, N.C., according to a news release.
Specifically, the release said investigators found the employers violated H-2A regulations by failing to do the following:
- Provide employees with copies of their work contracts.
- Satisfy job orders’ requirements by including the actual terms and conditions of employment.
- Provide employees with meals or access to kitchen facilities.
- Pay the required adverse effect wage rate to two H-2A workers performing as cooks in nonagricultural duties not listed in the contract.
- Provide pay stubs to H-2A employees working as cooks; instead, the employer paid them in cash, in violation of earning records requirements.
- Disclose daily meal deductions in the H-2A contract.
The division found Becerra Jr. failed to reimburse H-2A workers for their inbound transportation expenses by the contract’s halfway point. His father failed to meet housing safety and health requirements by failing to furnish workers’ housing with first aid kits, smoke alarms and flushing toilets, exposing the workers to potential harm, according to the release.
In addition to wages recovered, the division assessed $12,526 in civil money penalties to Becerra Jr. and $21,257 in civil money penalties to Becerra Enterprises for their violations. All penalties have been fully paid, according to the release. Becerra Enterprises was also debarred from participating in the H-2A program for three years, the release said.
“Farm laborers are among our nation’s most essential workers and are often vulnerable to illegal and unsafe labor practices,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock, in Raleigh, N.C., said in the release. “U.S. law guarantees workers’ rights regardless of the place they call home. The Wage and Hour Division will hold employers who jeopardize agricultural workers’ safety and health and deny them their full wages accountable.”
During fiscal years 2022 to 2023, the division identified violations in over 92% of the 14 investigations completed in the North Carolina sweet potato agriculture industry, the release said. These investigations recovered more than $545,000 in back wages for nearly 300 workers and assessed employers over $70,000 in penalties for violations, according to the release.
“The H-2A temporary agricultural program provides farmers with the additional workers they may need to put food on America’s tables,” Blaylock said. “However, this must not come at the expense of the safety and well-being of those workers. We urge growers to take proactive steps to ensure the labor contractors they hire comply fully with all regulations.”
