WATSONVILLE, CA - A Northern California strawberry grower has been handed a $2.4 million labor fine, as well as an order to repay Mexican workers for demanded kickbacks and costs of living.
Gonzalo Fernandez, operator of Fernandez Farms Inc., was charged with charging workers hired under the federally supervised H-2A work visa program, which calls for employers to cover travel costs and housing.
The U.S. Department of Labor stated that Fernandez demanded payments of more than $1,600 apiece from several hundred foreign workers during the 2010 to 2012 picking seasons, according to the Los Angeles Times.
As ruled by Administrative Law Judge Richard Clark, Fernandez must reimburse more than 400 workers about $1.29 million, as well as an additional fine of $1.1 million.
“If you really need foreign workers, this is a cost you should be bearing,” Abigail Daquiz, Senior Trial Attorney in the Labor Department’s Seattle office, who worked on the case, said. “We’re finding that in lots of different ways, employees are having to pay that back, being forced to kick it back. [In this case] they would go and cash their paycheck at the cafeteria right on site, and they would get in another line and pay back $100 or $200 a week until their debt was paid.”
Fernandez Farms, which the report noted filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013, denied accepting or demanding kickbacks in court, argued that some of the workers were “domestic workers” not entitled to the H-2A minimum wages, and contested the amount of wages owed.
Additional charges brought against Fernandez included:
- Turning away five local workers in violation of the program
- Failure to pay proper piece rates and overtime for berries picked
- Intimidation of those who complained about conditions
- Coercion of workers to give false or misleading statements, or otherwise impeding the investigation
Fernandez and his attorneys were not available for comment, according to the Los Angeles Times, but he has been barred from participating in the federal program for three years.
