FROSTPROOF, FL – A federal judge approved a settlement with a Frostproof farm labor contractor – Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc. – who the U.S. Department of Labor found shortchanged workers and failed to provide them with safe and sanitary living conditions – a practice that will require him to pay back wages and a civil money penalty.
The department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges affirmed the findings of an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and litigation by the Solicitor of Labor involving the farm labor contractor Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc., owned by Jose M. Gracia, and doing business at Jose M. Gracia Harvesting. Investigators found the farm labor contractor violated multiple requirements of the H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection, and Fair Labor Standards Act in Georgia and Florida.
The judge ordered Gracia Harvesting to pay $69,372 in back wages to 152 workers and pay $180,000 in civil money penalties. Gracia Harvesting must also employ a department-approved third-party to conduct audits and monitor any H-2A contracts in which Gracia is involved within the jurisdiction of the Atlanta or Tampa District Offices over the next 3 years.
“Farmworkers help put food on tables in homes and restaurants across the U.S. and the U.S. Department of Labor vigorously protects the rights of these essential workers, including those employed as part the H-2A guest worker program,”...
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