Blueberries photo by Divyangi K on unsplash.com

The California Labor Commissioner has levied $1.9 million in penalties and fines against a local farm labor contractor and two growers for wage theft affecting 356 workers who harvested persimmons and blueberries.

The Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) has cited farm labor contractor M.G. Luna, Inc. of Parlier and growers Madera Persimmon Growers, Inc. of Madera and Willems Farms, Inc. of Kingsburg in the amount of $1,926,531, for wage theft. The labor contracting business registered to Maria Guadalupe Luna collected wages from the growers but failed to pay the workers, according to an LCO news release. The labor contracting business also hired workers to harvest blueberries on Luna’s own farm and failed to pay them.

“The agricultural industry has up-the-chain liability laws holding client companies responsible for unpaid wages when their contractor fails to pay their workers. In this case, the growers who contracted with M.G. Luna will pay the owed wages to workers,” said Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower. “To avoid liability as client employers, growers have an obligation to ensure that the FLCs they hire are licensed, in good standing, and paying legal wages.”

The LCO opened its investigation in September 2019 after receiving a referral from California Rural Legal Assistance. The investigation focused on dozens of wage claims workers filed against  M.G. Luna and the growers for nonpayment of wages or for receiving checks with insufficient funds.

Luna along with Madera Persimmon were cited $75,120 for waiting time penalties, $6,273 for minimum wage violations and $2,230 in interest involving 25 workers. Luna with Willems Farms and trustees of the Willems Family Trust were cited $334,080 for waiting time penalties, $76,272 for minimum wage violations and $28,568 in interest involving 108 workers. 

Luna as an individual was also cited $1.14 million for waiting time penalties, $191,943 for minimum wage violations and $71,325 in interest affecting 223 workers.

The Labor Commissioner’s License and Registration search page allows growers to check if the labor contractor they are hiring is properly licensed and registered with the Labor Commissioner’s Office as required by law. Growers in California can find out if wage claims have been filed against an FLC by searching on the Labor Commissioner’s Wage Claim Search tool webpage.

Growers are recommended to check the search tool after work is completed, as wage claims are not always filed immediately after nonpayment of wages.