Yakima Valley farmworkers awarded $1.9 million in lawsuit

YAKIMA, Wash. — Two Yakima Valley growers and a labor contractor have been ordered to pay more than 600 farm workers nearly $1.9 million in damages for federal labor law violations.

The workers are entitled to about $2,000 to $4,500 each from Global Horizons Inc. of Los Angeles, Valley Fruit Orchards of Wapato and Green Acre Farms of Harrah under the decision issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Alan A. McDonald in a class-action lawsuit.

The case stemmed mostly from a complaint that the growers, working through Global Horizons, wrongly displaced farm workers with guest laborers from Thailand in 2004 under the H-2A program, which allows employers to import foreign labor if they can demonstrate a lack of local workers.

McDonald ruled there was undisputed evidence of six violations of federal law, including:

— Failure to disclose productivity requirements and firing workers for failing to meeting the standards.

— Failure to pay a promised piece rate for pear harvesting.

— Telling area residents they had to provide their own transportation to get a job while providing transportation to the Thai workers.

Global Horizons later lost its license to do business in the state because of other violations, including the deduction of state income taxes from the Thai workers' paychecks although Washington has no state income tax.

McDonald found the three businesses jointly and severally liable, meaning each must pay in proportion to its guilt.

Randolph S. Shiner, a lawyer for Global Horizons, told the Yakima Herald-Republic the company is struggling to stay in business and will ask the judge to reconsider his ruling.

John and Peter Verbrugge of Valley Fruit and Jim Morford of Green Acre couldn't be reached by the newspaper for immediate comment.

McDonald ordered Global Horizons and owner Mordechai Orian, who founded the company 17 years ago in Israel, to pay sanctions totaling $39,500 for failing to comply with court orders requiring pretrial production of e-mail and other potential evidence in a process known as discovery plus $500 a day until the payment is made.

The judge warned that Orian would be charged with criminal contempt of court July 24 unless the sanctions are paid.

Last year Global Horizon agreed to pay $156,995 in back wages and $135,450 in civil fines to settle claims involving 88 Thai agricultural workers for work in Hawaii, then backed out of the deal and contested the case because of a Labor Department news release that Orian said wrongly portrayed the settlement as a judgment.

Also last year, Global Horizons filed a lawsuit in California state court claiming that Munger Brothers hired illegal immigrant workers through Ayala Agricultural Services and J&A Contractors to pick blueberries in the Central Valley.