A recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation showed that a Blaine Larsen Farms Inc. in Dalhart, Texas, failed to pay workers with H-2A visas. Workers who are citizens also did not get their wages. The farm is where workers enter the county with a H-2A visas to work in the Texas Panhandle.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Larsen Farms failed to pay warehouse workers time and one-half of their regular rate of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Investigators also determined Larsen Farms violated the H-2A provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by providing incomplete pay statements to H-2A workers and allowing drivers to transport workers without the proper license.
The investigation led to the recovery of $1,345,960 in back wages for the warehouse workers, and assessment by the division of $10,900 in civil money penalties to the employer for violating the law.
Source: kwtx.com
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
