US Labor Department cracks down on NC contractor for migrant farmworker abuse, wage theft
The federal government cracked down on a migrant labor contractor in eastern North Carolina for widespread farmworker labor violations, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday.
Investigators with the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found that labor contractor Valentino Lopez, of Atkinson in Pender County, violated laws and abused workers participating in the federal H-2A visa program in the 2020 and 2021 growing seasons.
The DOL fined Lopez $62,531 for the violations and banned him from employing temporary migrant workers for three years.
“Workers in the H-2A program come to the U.S. legally to help agricultural employers meet seasonal demands and earn good wages to help support their families at home,” said Richard Blaylock, a Wage and Hour Division district director in Raleigh, in a news release. “Valentino Lopez chose to exploit and intimidate dozens of workers and charge fees illegally, and now has been held accountable.”
H-2A visas allow some 15,000 people to come to North Carolina annually to work temporarily on farms across the state, filling much-needed jobs that farms otherwise could not.
According to the DOL, Lopez recruited, hired, housed and transported H-2A program workers to pick blueberries at Ronnie Carter Farms Inc. in Sampson County.
Since mid-2019, North Carolina employers have filed requests for more than 88,000 workers on H-2A visas. Only four states have requested more, federal data show.
Abuses, lawsuits in NC
Previous reporting published this month by The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer detailed abuses in the H-2A program in North Carolina, which were outlined in nine different lawsuits filed against labor contractors since 2017.
Lopez has not been sued, but the labor violations he is accused of are consistent with those mentioned in the lawsuits. That includes confiscating workers’ passports immediately after they arrived from Mexico, wage theft, neglecting to pay inbound and outbound transportation expenses for workers, and charging workers fees between $150 and $8,000 to participate in the federal program.
Investigators learned that Lopez attempted to hide his intimidation and threats against his workers by returning all passports and visas to workers immediately before federal investigators arrived.
Specifically, investigators found the following violations:
- “Failing to pay inbound transportation expenses to 75 workers during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, as well as outbound transportation expenses to 47 workers in the 2020 season.
- “Not paying 13 workers for their last few weeks of employment in the 2020 season.
- “Charging 21 workers fees to participate in the program, despite “provisions prohibiting employers from passing along operating costs to employees,” according to the DOL.”
Those with questions can call the Wage and Hour Division at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The free line is staffed with those who can speak in over 200 languages.
This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "US Labor Department cracks down on NC contractor for migrant farmworker abuse, wage theft."
