Company paid $47,000 after not properly feeding H-2A visa farm workers in Florida
A Mississippi company that brings in H-2A visa workers to Florida farms has paid $47,154 in pay to workers after not feeding them as required, the Department of Labor announced.
That owed money from H2A Complete II went to 66 workers, an average of $714.45 per employee.
The H-2A program allows companies to import temporary, nonimmigrant workers to do temporary and seasonal farm work. H2A Complete II, a business run by president Terri Forrester out of Southaven, Mississippi and operating as H-2A Complete, provided workers brought in under that program to farms in Indian River and Highlands counties.
But they didn’t feed those workers. Labor said Wage and Hour Division investigators found H2A Complete “forced (workers) to buy their own breakfast and lunch, which caused their out-of-pocket expenses to exceed the amount stated on the job order that the staffing company used to secure the workers.”
That’s a no-no. Three meals a day should have come from H2A Complete with employee charges limited to a number specified by Labor.
“Agricultural employers that bring in temporary guest workers on H-2A visas must comply with all the provisions of the program, including all transportation, wage and housing requirements,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Tony Pham. “When employers fail to obey the law, like they did in this case, their violations affect the welfare of their employees and create an unfair advantage over their competitors.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 10:45 AM.
