Judge awards $235,000 to farmworkers

YAKIMA — A federal judge has awarded about $235,000 to more than 600 Latino farmworkers who accused a farm-labor contractor and two Yakima Valley growers of violating federal labor laws.

The long-running case involves Los Angeles-based Global Horizons and two farms, Valley Fruit Orchards and Green Acre Farms. The farmworkers claimed the companies illegally and intentionally displaced them by bringing in workers from Thailand in 2004.

U.S. District Judge Robert Whaley awarded $235,000 in statutory damages to the workers Wednesday.

Whaley took over the case after U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald died. McDonald had awarded about $1.8 million in damages on a motion for summary judgment in July 2007, but Whaley opted to set the award aside and reach his own determination on the amount.

The new figure means each farmworker will receive $350 to $500.

Lawyer Lori Isley, of Columbia Legal Services, which represented the farmworkers, said they were disappointed with the ruling.

The Farm Labor Contractor Act requires damages not only to deter wrongdoing to prevent the displacement of workers in the future, but also to compensate farmworkers sufficiently so that they're willing to come forward and report wrongdoing, Isley said.

"These workers were denied a full season at Valley Fruit or Green Acre Farms, yet some will only receive about $350 in damages," she said. "That is certainly not a full season."

The case was certified as a class action, qualifying about 600 workers for damages.

In September 2007, a federal-court jury decided that Global Horizons must pay $317,000 in punitive damages for discriminating against the workers and violating federal labor laws.

Workers also will get a share of that award, Isley said.

Officials at Global Horizons and Valley Fruit Orchards did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment Thursday. No one answered at Green Acre Farms.

Global Horizons brought about 175 temporary agricultural workers from Thailand to the Yakima Valley under the federal H-2A guest-worker program in 2004 and 2005.

The program allows a labor contractor to bring in foreign workers if it can prove local workers can't be found.

Company officials have said the plaintiffs in the case either quit or were terminated for cause.

Washington state revoked Global's operating license in January 2006, after repeatedly accusing the company of violating state wage and labor laws.