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Article

22 Dec 2014

Author:
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, KHON2 (USA)

Thai workers on Hawaii farms may not get any of $8.7M award

A federal judge has ruled that a California-based labour contractor must pay $8.7 million in damages to Thai workers who were exploited while working at Hawaii farms, but it's not clear whether any of them will get the money. Mordechai Orian, former president of Global Horizons, said Monday that the Los Angeles company is no longer in business and has no way to pay. “We will fight this ridiculous decision,” he said, calling the amount “insane.” Orian continued to deny workers were mistreated. “We paid those guys to the last penny they worked for,” he said. “We tried to keep legal farming in the United States alive, and this is the thanks we get.” The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit in 2011 against Global Horizons and six Hawaii farms. It alleged workers were subjected to discrimination, uninhabitable housing, insufficient food, inadequate wages and deportation threats. Five of the farms settled for a total of $3.6 million...