Discriminating against U.S. workers, abusing H-2A workers cost a Miami company $200,000
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Florida companies and H-2A visa worker mistreatment
Abuse of H-2A workers isn’t limited to Florida companies, but the U.S. Department of Labor hasn’t had much trouble finding the problem here.
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Favoring bringing in H-2A workers over hiring American applicants and housing those workers in substandard housing were among the violations that cost a wholesale plant nursery in South Miami-Dade over $200,000 in civil money penalties and back pay.
That’s from an announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor concerning Pure Beauty Farms, based out of 16350 SW 200th St. and run at the time of the complaint by CEO Enrique Yanes and vice president/CFO Deborah Jordan, according to state records. Pure Beauty paid a $182,811 civil money penalty and $17,651 in back wages to one worker.
“At the time of the initial complaint in 2018, Pure Beauty Farms took immediate steps to address the housing concerns raised by DOL,” the statement emailed to the Miami Herald said. “We also paid back wages to one applicant the DOL thought we should have hired, as well as the punitive fines called for in the agreement.”
The statement also confirmed the consent judgment and some of the requirements under which the business could continue to participate in the H-2A visa program. An independent monitor will audit all of Pure Beauty’s H-2A activities for three years.
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The H-2A visa program
The H-2A guest worker visa program allows businesses that, Labor says, “anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.”
Most of the work is agricultural. Pure Beauty provides plants to retailers such as Home Depot and landscapers and theme parks in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
Before bringing in H-2A workers, the business must show there are not “sufficient able, willing, and qualified U.S. workers available” to do the work. And, H-2A workers can’t be used to drop the pay or worsen working conditions of U.S. workers doing the same work.
Employers must also:
▪ Pay special rates for H-2A workers;
▪ Provide housing and transportation to the job site;
▪ Provide meals if the housing doesn’t have kitchens or kitchenettes;
▪ Provide H-2A workers work that’s at least 75% of the work specified in the job contract.
Pure Beauty’s adherence to all the H-2A program’s rules proved a sometime thing.
Problems on the other side of the Florida-Georgia line
The violations actually occurred at Pure Beauty’s agricultural center in Greensboro, Georgia. Labor’s Wage and Hour investigators found Pure Beauty:
▪ Demanded potential U.S. workers have nursery work experience and references not asked for from H-2A workers. Using that preferential treatment, Pure Beauty, Labor said, “rejected 29 U.S. applicants, including several who previously performed the same job for Pure Beauty;”
▪ Put H-2A workers in housing with “excessive debris; fire alarms without batteries; water and mold damage; floors with holes; unclean restrooms and food storage; and a lack of proper lighting;”
▪ Didn’t disclose the workers’ housing camp address;
▪ Didn’t give two employees copies of the contract;
▪ Didn’t put work hours and federal tax ID number on pay stubs.
“Retailers and consumers may be troubled to learn how some agricultural employers treat the people whose hard work produces the products they purchase,” Wage and Hour Division Director Steven Salazar said. “The federal H-2A program exists to help employers fill jobs in the agricultural industry when they can’t find U.S. workers. Too often, our investigators discover violations and abuses, and find U.S. workers have been illegally bypassed in the recruitment and hiring process.”
The Wage and Hour complaint section of Labor’s website contains information on how to file a complaint if you believe your employer has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act or other labor laws. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607. The national helpline is 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).
This story was originally published February 26, 2023 at 2:54 PM.
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