DALHART, Texas (KWTX) - In a recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a Blaine Larsen Farms Inc. in Dalhart failed to pay workers with H-2A visas and workers who are citizens were failed to get their wages.
Blaine Larsen Inc. is based in Idaho Falls, Idaho that operates serve retail and food service customers worldwide.
The farm is where workers enter the county with a H-2A visas to work in the Texas Panhandle.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Larsen Farms failed to pay warehouse workers time and one-half of their regular rate of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Investigators also determined Larsen Farms violated the H-2A provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by providing incomplete pay statements to H-2A workers and allowing drivers to transport workers without the proper license.
The employer also violated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s temporary labor camp standards by failing to properly report communicable disease after an outbreak of coronavirus at the farm.
The investigation led to the recovery of $1,345,960 in back wages for the warehouse workers, and assessment by the division of $10,900 in civil money penalties to the employer for violating the law.
This investigation is the latest in a series of departmental actions related to Larsen Farms.
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