Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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DETROIT --

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced the recovery of $53,541 in minimum wage and overtime back pay for 176 workers at farms in 14 Michigan counties in 2006, and issued nearly $32,000 in fines for youth employment and migrant housing violations following investigations of a wide spectrum of agricultural employers in the state.

James Smith, district director of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in Detroit, called the violations intolerable and described violations found during the year-long effort to protect migrant workers “disappointing.” Investigations were conducted at farms and agricultural processing centers in Allegan, Benzie, Berrien, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Kent, Leelanau, Mason, Monroe, Newaygo, Oceana, Ottawa and Van Buren Counties.

“Among the violations we found were children as young as 7-years-old picking blueberries in the fields, and youngsters under the age of 16 working on a conveyer line in a processing plant, operating hazardous machinery and working long hours in fruit packing plants,” Smith said. “We also found dangerous and unsanitary housing conditions provided to migrant workers and their families.”

The Wage and Hour Division issued $10,587 in youth employment civil money penalties to four employers in Van Buren, Ottawa and Berrien Counties, along with $21,150 in penalties to 12 employers in Kent, Berrien, Van Buren, Newaygo, and Oceana Counties for violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), primarily for housing violations. Smith noted that substandard housing included leaking propane gas, electrical hazards, vermin infestations, lack of clean water for hand washing or bathing, and discharge of sewage directly onto the ground. Back wages were owed to 176 workers in Monroe, Oceana, and Van Buren Counties as a result of minimum wage or overtime pay violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the FLSA which requires that covered employees be paid the federal minimum wage. Employees working outside of agriculture must also be paid time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over forty in a single workweek, such as when working in a packing shed processing goods of other growers. MSPA protects migrant and seasonal agricultural workers by establishing employment standards related to wages, housing, transportation, disclosures and recordkeeping.

For more information about the FLSA and MSPA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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