Recent investigations from the US Department of Labor found that five farms in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties have neglected to pay and provide the proper benefits to their workers.
Many undocumented farmworkers have benefits protected under the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Employment Program, a program that allows employers to hire workers from other countries for seasonal agricultural work.
Between April 2020 and February 2022, the Department of Labor checked on farms that had previously applied for the H-2A program. Under H-2A, businesses must provide transportation to and from work, housing, and three meals a day or kitchen facilities for their workers.
Francisco Ocampo, the Assistant District Director with the Department of Labor of the Wage and Hour Division said, “The employer thought they were providing the meals, but the provider of the meals wasn’t actually giving the meals to the workers, they were just not even showing up. They have to be vigilant as to what's going on in their field. they cannot just say, ‘Well I have a catering company going out there and that's it.’ They have to know the meals that are being provided. Are they nutritious meals? Are they meals that are consumable? Three meals a day, that’s all we’re asking.”
Ocampo is part of the team who investigated the farms on the Central Coast. He said they discovered five farms in the Santa Maria area that utilized the H-2A Program failed to provide proper payment, benefits, and contracts...
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