Recent investigations of California vineyard managers led to a Ukiah-based operation being ordered to pay more than $150,000 in a combination of penalties and back pay, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.

According to a press release, “the U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its outreach and enforcement efforts (in California), and recent investigations led the division to assess more than $231,881 in civil money penalties and to recover $129,081 in back wages for 353 agricultural workers.”

One of the companies investigated was Noble Vineyards Management Inc. of Ukiah:

• Noble Vineyards Management Inc., which provides workers to Sonoma and Mendocino County growers, violated the H-2A temporary agricultural program regulations by failing to pay the contract rate of pay and failing to pay corresponding U.S. workers at least the same rate paid to H-2A workers. The division also found Noble failed to provide tools required to work and did not reimburse H-2A workers’ travel expenses as required. In addition, investigators learned the employer retaliated against H-2A employees who asked about their wages by sending them back to their home countries before the contract’s end. The division recovered $92,317 in back wages owed to 148 workers and assessed the contractor $66,530 in penalties.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to protect the rights of people whose labor allows California’s agricultural industry to prosper and provide products consumed throughout the...

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