Operators of a potato farm in Idaho face civil penalties after they threatened to send temporary migrant workers back to Mexico unless they accepted a lower payment than originally proposed.
Department of Labor officials cited the Jorgensen Management farm in Bancroft, Idaho, for several violations of the H-2A guest worker program, including failure to reimburse workers for their travel expenses.
Jorgensen also did not pay the required fees to 69 United States workers who were hired together with the foreign workers.
“In addition to these violations, investigators determined that the employer threatened to terminate the employment contract and send workers back to Mexico if they refused to accept wages at a rate lower than that legally required under the H-2A program,” he said. or the Department of Labor in a statement.
The Department of Labor said it recovered $159,159 dollars in unpaid wages stemming from his investigation at the potato farm. Officials also assessed Jorgensen Management a payment of $25,430 dollars in civil penalties.
Investigators from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the company violated the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act by failing to meet mandatory safety and health standards in the living place. The company also did not provide wage statements or pay exact wages to its workers.
It should be remembered that, with the program of H-2A guest workers, companies can bring in foreign nationals to fill temporary agricultural jobs. Participating employers must meet certain standards, such as providing free accommodation and daily transportation to and from the workplace.
“By threatening and defrauding some of our nation’s lowest-paid workers, Jorgensen Management displayed a deliberate disregard for the law. They created a toxic workplace and victimized these vulnerable workers,” said Carrie Aguilar, director of the Wage and Hour District in Portland, Oregon.
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