Texas Potato Farm That Denied Hundreds Of Workers Full Wages Ordered To Pay Back $1.3M
DALHART, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A US Department of Labor investigation found that a potato farm in the Texas Panhandle failed to properly pay its workers and violated numerous labor laws, owing over $1.3 million in back wages and $10,900 in civil penalties.
Larsen Farms of Dalhart, Texas is owned by one of the largest growers in the country - Idaho Falls, Idaho-based Blaine Larsen Farms Inc. It employs several hundred workers; many are immigrants with an H-2A work visa, others are US citizens.
Those workers, both from here and abroad, spend long days in the hot sun, harvesting crops and repairing farm equipment while others keep warehouses operating. But, the DoL said, they were unfairly denied their chances at the American dream through dishonest labor practices.
The DoL's Wage and Hour Division found that Larsen Farms failed to pay warehouse workers the time-and-a-half overtime rate of pay they're legally entitled to for working over 40 hours a week under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Investigators also determined that Larsen Farms violated the H-2A provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by providing incomplete pay statements to H-2A workers and allowing drivers to transport workers without proper licenses. They also found Larsen Farms violated OSHA temporary labor camp standards by failing to properly report a COVID-19 outbreak.
The investigation recovered $1,345,960 in back wages owed to warehouse workers, and determined that the farm owed $10,900 in civil penalties for violating the law.
Not Larsen Farms' First Time Under DoL Scrutiny
This isn't the first time Larsen Farms has been investigated for violating labor laws.
In July 2020, the DoL's Office of the Inspector General's Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations undertook a joint investigation with the Department of Homeland Security into Larsen Farms after a company manager allegedly demanded that workers from Mexico pay as much as $1,500 for work visas.
In August 2020, OSHA opened investigations at two other Texas farms operated by Blaine Larsen Inc. after COVID-19 infections killed two farmworkers amid allegations that federal workplace safety requirements were 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. In return for their hard work, they must be paid all of their wages and protected from workplace hazards," said Acting Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman.
"The Wage and Hour Division found that Blaine Larsen Inc. failed to meet its legal obligations, and the Office of the Inspector General determined that the employer subjected its workers to discrimination and intimidation when they asserted their rights. These actions will not be tolerated, and the agency will use all available tools to hold the employer accountable."
For more information about the H-2A visa program, the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.
Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.
