A Madison tomato company is required to pay $337,000 in wages and penalties after it failed to comply with federal laws regarding governing wages and working conditions for more than 100 employees.
The U.S. Department of Labor found Backyard Farms, LLC, in violation of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Visa Program — which allows employers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to fill seasonal and temporary jobs if worker a shortage is anticipated — and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, which protects those workers.
The investigation found that Backyard Farms violated the H-2A by dismissing domestic workers employed through temporary agencies to make room for foreign workers; paid workers lower wages than H-2A workers for the same work; and did not provide copies of worker contracts.
The company violated the Migrant Seasonal Worker Protection Act by contracting with temporary help agencies that were not registered to perform activities covered by the act.
Backyard Farms will be required to pay $245,351 in back wages as well as $92,114 in civil penalties for the violations.
“The U.S. Department of Labor continues to enforce the requirements of agricultural guest worker program to ensure employers do not terminate or fail to offer jobs to U.S. workers in favor of foreign workers, and do not pay any workers in corresponding employment less than their hard-earned wages,” Daniel Cronin, Wage and Hour Division District Director, in Manchester, New Hampshire said in a statement. “In this case, Backyard Farms dismissed some U.S. workers and paid other workers lower wages than foreign workers for the same work.”
Anyone in violation of the program may also be barred from participating in it for up to three years, he said.