PERRY, OH – An Ohio nursery owner’s history of violations, coupled with allegations that they intimidated and threatened workers, and denied them their full wages, has led the U.S. Department of Labor to assess $76,278, in penalties and to debar the Perry employer from participating in the federal agricultural visa program for three years.
Known as H-2A, the program allows employers to recruit and transport agricultural workers from outside the U.S. on a temporary basis, often for seasonal work or when sufficient numbers of U.S. workers are not available.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Secor Nursery in Perry – owned by Lawrence J. Secor – violated the H-2A program as follows:
“Unscrupulous actions like intimating workers and denying them wages will not be tolerated from Secor Nursery or any other employer. The hard work performed by people employed in the agricultural industry is essential to our nation’s food supply and yet, too often these temporary guest workers are exploited by employers that fail to live up to the terms of their own contracts,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Matthew Utley in Columbus, Ohio.
“The...
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