Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co. requested workers make illegal political contributions
RIDGE SPRING, SC – More than 600 temporary agricultural workers are entitled to their share of more than $132,000 recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor from a Ridge Spring employer that illegally deducted money from their wages for political donations and cleaning fees.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co. Inc. violated H-2A program regulations by requesting workers make political contributions, which resulted in the workers’ adverse effect wage rate falling below the required $11.13 per hour; and by charging workers a cleaning fee, paid to a local cleaning crew, for the employer-provided housing.
The division obtained a consent finding from the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges that required Titan Fruit & Vegetable to pay a total of $338,446 to 1,341 workers. To date, more than $200,000 in owed wages has been distributed to about half of the affected workers. The division is now actively trying to locate the remaining 617 workers owed a total of $132,308 in wages.
“The H-2A temporary agricultural program helps U.S. farmers by allowing them to recruit the workers needed to harvest crops and help their businesses succeed. In return, employers have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that all workers who come legally to the U.S. under the H-2A program are paid fairly and comply with other regulations,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “Deductions from workers’ wages are forbidden unless they are explicitly included in the contract.”
Investigators also found Titan Fruit & Vegetable violated H-2A program regulations by doing the following:
- Paying some H-2A workers an additional $50 per week to drive company vans to a nearby town to do laundry and shop for groceries but failing to disclose the additional pay on the job order.
- Failing to record reasons why some employees worked fewer hours than contractually offered.
- Allowing workers to travel in a vehicle that had a broken passenger window, worn and unsafe tires and did not have a charged fire extinguisher, all of which are transportation safety issues.
As a result, the division assessed the employer with $2,850 in civil penalties.
“We are asking the public to assist us in locating those workers owed wages by Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co., so we can put these hard-earned wages in the pockets of the people who worked for them,” Benefiel added.
The Wage and Hour Division makes every effort to locate and notify all employees due back wages. If they are unable to find an employee, those wages are held while they continue efforts to locate the worker. If anyone believes they may be owed back wages collected by the Wage and Hour Division, they can search the division’s Workers Owed Wages online database of workers who have been previously unlocated and may have money waiting to be claimed.
The Wage and Hour Division offers multiple compliance assistance resources, including an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit, to provide employers the information they need to comply with the law. The division enforces the law without regard to an employee’s immigration status and can communicate with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages at the agency’s toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).
Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division. Download the agency’s Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices, free and available in English and Spanish, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.
