Santa Rosa grower fined for violating protections for temporary ag workers
A Sonoma County wine grape and vegetable grower will have to pay $31,102 in back wages and $18,154 in civil penalties for violating several requirements of the federal H-2A visa program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Farmworkers pick grapes from vines in Delano on Aug. 18, 2023. Photo by Julie Leopo-Bermudez for CalMatters
Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.
A Sonoma County wine grape and vegetable grower will have to pay $31,102 in back wages and $18,154 in civil penalties for violating several requirements of the federal H-2A visa program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers to hire temporary workers from abroad – mostly from Mexico – for agricultural jobs that are not filled by domestic workers. Employers receive much-needed labor by agreeing to meet certain conditions, such as providing safe and clean housing and adequate working conditions.
The department said its investigators found Humberto Castaneda Produce, based in Santa Rosa, paid workers below the promised rate on their contract, failed to provide tools, meals or kitchen facilities, and housed workers in dilapidated trailers and a garage, all in violation of the program requirements. The company did not respond to a CalMatters request for comment.
Farmworkers are among the most vulnerable tenants in a state plagued by skyrocketing housing costs. It's more expensive to live in Santa Rosa than New York City, according to U.S. News & World Report. Because H-2A workers depend on their employers to maintain their legal status in the United States, they rarely complain about poor living and working conditions. In California, the number of H-2A workers has exploded in recent years, coinciding with the housing crisis. State regulators have struggled to ensure that farms are providing safe housing to their workers, rarely issuing citations or penalties despite finding thousands of violations, a CalMatters investigation earlier this year found.
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Federal labor officials said the company also did not reimburse transportation costs and did not secure safe transportation for its workers, which are requirements of the program. Farmworker transportation is a key issue in a state where laborers have been dying in crashes to and from the fields. Humberto Castaneda Produce grows serrano and jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, squash and wine grapes, operating in Santa Rosa since 1988. It supplies large stores like Safeway supermarkets and smaller, local grocers.
Workers can use the Department of Labor’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to see if they are owed back wages collected by the department.
At Humberto Castaneda Produce in Sonoma County, farmworkers were living in dilapidated trailers and a garage in conditions that violated the requirements of the federal H-2A program, according to inspectors with the Department of Labor. Photos Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor
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Thanks for reading, Wendy and the California Divide Team
California Divide is a CalMatters reporting project focused on inequality in the Golden State.
