Raleigh, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred a North Carolina farm labor contractor from employing temporary non-immigrant agricultural workers for three years and assessed $62,531 in civil money penalties after investigators found widespread violations of the federal H-2A program.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division learned H-2ALC Valentino Lopez, operating as Valentino Lopez, confiscated workers’ passports immediately after they arrived, failed to pay weeks of wages to more than a dozen workers, did not pay the inbound and outbound transportation expenses for workers, and charged workers fees between $150 and $8,000 to participate in the federal program.
The Atkinson-based Lopez recruited, hired, housed and transported H-2A program workers to pick blueberries at Ronnie Carter Farms Inc. in Sampson County. The program helps provide agricultural employers with foreign workers to perform temporary or seasonal work including planting, cultivating or harvesting labor.
Specifically, division investigators found that – in addition to the intimidating practice of collecting and retaining passports workers needed to leave the farm – Lopez violated federal regulations by doing the following:
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