Nursery Accused Of Human Trafficking

A dozen Guatemalans filed a federal human trafficking and racketeering lawsuit against a large nursery Thursday, claiming they were taken to Connecticut without their consent, forced to work nearly 80 hours a week and paid less than minimum wage.

The workers sued Imperial Nurseries in Granby and its labor recruiter, saying they were promised jobs planting trees in North Carolina for $7.50 per hour.

Some of the 12 had flown from Guatemala to North Carolina for the job. But instead, they said they were taken in a van to Hartford, had their passports confiscated and were threatened with arrest or deportation.

In Connecticut, they said they were made to sleep on the floors of filthy apartments, paid less than $3.75 per hour and had their mail opened without their permission.

"These workers came here lawfully to earn a living and support their families," said Nicole Hallett, a Yale Law School student helping represent the workers. "Instead they were defrauded and trapped into conditions of forced labor."

The plaintiffs are seeking back pay and unspecified damages.

Griffin Land & Nurseries Inc., parent company of Imperial, said the workers were hired by Pro Tree Forestry Services, an independent labor contractor. Griffin said a Department of Labor investigation was satisfied with the workers' living conditions and transportation.

But Labor officials advised Imperial that some Pro Tree employees were not being paid the legally required wage. Imperial said it terminated its contract with Pro Tree on June 30.

"Imperial was appalled to hear that Pro Tree was not paying its employees appropriately, because it paid Pro Tree well in excess of what they would need to pay their employees in compliance with applicable law," the company said.

The Labor Department is investigating the allegations, a spokesman said. Pro Tree, which is also named in the lawsuit, did not return calls seeking comment.

One of the workers, 33-year-old Marvin Coto, said through an interpreter that he was forced to work in the rain despite a fever that gave him tremors.

"I started crying and said, 'You should let me go free,"' he said. "Every day they forced us to do more and more work. Our hands began to get swollen and they laughed at us and said, 'You can keep working."'

The workers were recruited last spring and early summer, according to the lawsuit.

Imperial's sales volume places it among the 20 largest landscape nursery growers in the country, according to the lawsuit, which doesn't include a total sales figure.