Posted May 1, 2014
A federal judge recently upheld a previous ruling vacating settlement agreements between the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and two Oregon blueberry growers, according to an article by OPB News available here.
In 2012, DOL inspectors accused Pan-American Berry Growers and B&G Ditchen Farms of violating federal labor laws. The DOL accused the companies of employing “ghost workers” meaning “berry pickers who weren’t officially on the books,” resulting in minimum wage violations.
The DOL issued a “hot goods order” to block shipment of their product to market until the violations were remedied.
In January, a federal magistrate ruled that “in this situation, the tactic of putting millions of dollars of perishable goods in lock up was unlawfully coercive.” This week, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane upheld that ruling.
The Oregon growers will now be seeking about $220,000 from the DOL, according to an article by Capital Press available here.
A spokesman for the DOL said the agency is “reviewing the decision and considering its options.” The agency has several possible options including “dropping its lawsuit against the farmers, trying to prove the allegations or appealing the ruling that invalidated the settlement deals.”
The Oregon Farm Bureau has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain documents about the agency’s investigations.
For more information on agricultural labor issues, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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