The U.S. Department of Labor said it found numerous violations of the H-2A agricultural worker program by Roberto Perez Farms and Perez Bros Farms Inc. in Turlock, Calif.
According to a news release, investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employers:
- Illegally rejected domestic workers;
- Failed to pay the required H-2A rate to workers hired alongside H-2A visa workers;
- Did not provide H-2A workers with at least three-quarters of the work hours guaranteed on their contracts, and pay them the wages the program requires;
- Failed to reimburse H-2A workers for inbound and outbound transportation, as well as visa and border crossing fees, as the law requires;
- Made illegal deductions from pay; and
- Failed to maintain complete records, as required.
The H-2A temporary agricultural program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature
The Wage and Hour Division also determined that the employers transported workers in unsafe vehicles with bald tires and inoperable lights, and housed workers in unsafe and overcrowded conditions, according to the release.
Investigators, the release said, also found Roberto Perez Farms and Perez Bros Farms Inc. failed to disclose all conditions of employment, provide wage statements to workers and pay wages when due, all violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
The investigation recovered $82,616 in back wages for 92 workers and led the department to assess $36,765 in civil money penalties against the two California agricultural employers for multiple violations of H-2A, according to the release.
In fiscal year 2021, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division conducted 1,000 investigations of agricultural employers, recovering more than $8.4 million in back wages for 10,000 employees and assessing $7 million in penalties, according to the release.
