USA: Bushel Boy Farms & Oro Valley Ag Services failed to pay 94 migrants USD200k overtime, cos. ordered to pay back wages & damages
Summary
Date Reported: 17 Jun 2024
Location: United States of America
Companies
Bushel Boy Farms - Employer , Oro Valley Ag Services - Labour SupplierAffected
Total individuals affected: 94
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 94 - Location unknown , Agriculture & livestock , Gender not reported , Documented migrants )Issues
Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: The company was ordered to repay USD200k by Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry. Labour contractor Oro Valley, which had placed the workers at Bushel Boy Farms, reportedly neither contested nor responded to the state's order.
Source type: News outlet
Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine / Public Domain
"Bushel Boy Farms in Owatonna to pay $200K in back wages, damages,"
Bushel Boy Farms is paying nearly $200,000 in back wages and damages to 94 employees for unpaid overtime, state officials said Monday.
The Owatonna, Minn., indoor tomato grower and an Arizona labor contractor, Oro Valley Ag Services, failed to pay employees overtime "even though they consistently worked more than 48 hours a week" between 2020 and 2022, according to the Department of Labor and Industry.
Minnesota law has required overtime pay for agriculture workers for 50 years...
The department issued a compliance order against the company in May, and Bushel Boy entered a consent agreement with the state earlier this month. The company will pay about $97,000 in back pay and an identical amount in damages...
Oro Valley, the labor contractor, provided domestic and H-2A foreign migrant workers for the greenhouse operations. The company did not contest nor respond to the state's order.