BANCROFT, ID (ABC4) – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $159,000 in unpaid wages after an Idaho potato farm shortchanged wages to its workers.
On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Labor investigators found that Jorgensen Management Inc., a potato farm in Bancroft, intentionally shortchanged wages and exposed their guest workers to substandard living conditions. The investigation also found that the employer used threats and intimidation to exploit the workers.
The farm violated the provisions under the H-2A guest worker program. A guest worker is someone who may have traveled hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles from their native countries to the U.S. to perform seasonal work.
The department found that the potato farm violated multiple provisions under H-2A such as:
Investigators also found that the farm threatened to terminate the work contract and send workers back to Mexico if they refused to accept wages at a lower rate than legally required under the H-2A program.
“By threatening and shortchanging some of the lowest-paid workers in our nation, Jorgensen Management showed a willful disregard for the law. They created a toxic workplace and victimized these vulnerable workers,” said Wage and Hour...
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