A large farm in Texas that is one of the nation's largest potato producers recently had to pay $1.3 million in wages it had denied its farm workers, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release.
Recovery of the back wages and overtime pay followed a DOL investigation that found Blaine Larsen Farms Inc. in Dalhart, Texas denied almost 500 farmworkers, according to the Thursday, Feb. 17 DOL news release. The recovery followed a racketeering investigation, as well as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation that began in August 2020 after COVID-19 infections killed two Blaine Larsen farmworkers and allegations arose that federal workplace safety requirements were being ignored.
"The pandemic highlighted the essential contributions agricultural workers – including workers in the H-2A visa programs – make every day to feed the nation and support our economy," Acting DOL Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman said in the news release. "In return for their hard work, they must be paid all of their wages and protected from workplace hazards."
DOL's Wage and Hour Division found Blaine Larsen "failed to meet its legal obligations," Looman said. DOL's Office of the Inspector General also found that the mega farm discriminated against its workers and subjected them to "intimidation when they asserted their rights," she said.
"These actions will not be tolerated, and the agency will use all available tools to hold the employer accountable," Looman said.
Blaine Larsen Farms, headquartered in Idaho, is family-owned-and-operated on thousands of acres in three states, including its Dalhart farm, according to information on the farm's website.
Blaine Larsen Farms was found guilty of failing to pay its H-2A visa workers and also was cited for safety. Blaine Larsen Farms also was found guilty of H-2A provisions violations as stipulated under the Immigration & Nationality Act.
The Farm also allegedly provided incomplete pay statements to its H-2A workers and allowed its drivers to transport workers without the proper license.
"They also found that the employer violated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's temporary labor camp standards by failing to properly report communicable disease after an outbreak of coronavirus at the farm," the news release said.
DOL's investigation was the latest in a series of federal actions against Blaine Larsen Farms. An earlier joint racketeering and fraud investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and DOL's Inspector General's office produced a criminal complaint in July 2020 that alleged the farm's manager demanded as much as $1,500 from Mexican workers for work visas.
