Bancroft Farm Failed to Fairly Pay Visa Workers

BANCROFT, Idaho (KLIX)-An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has found that an Idaho farm failed to properly pay its migrant workers and threatened them if they didn't accept a lower pay. According to the agency, an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division revealed Mexican workers on the H-2a program had not been payed the required rates along with 69 domestic workers, failed to give the immigrant workers the proper amount of work hours, and reimburse the workers for the cost to travel to the farm. The Department of Labor said it recovered $159,256 from Jorgensen Management Inc. in unpaid wages the workers didn't receive. The company was handed $25,000 in penalties. The agency also found that the farm threatened to send the workers back to their country if they didn't accept the lower wages. The Department of Labor also said the company failed to meet the mandatory housing safety and health standards under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

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