Local Chinese vegetable growers who faced potentially crippling penalties for what they called minor, accidental and one-time labor violations reached a settlement with state regulators last month.
Fines originally imposed last year on Morgan Hill farmers Xay Duc Hoang, Fanny Tam and Siu Wah Mok were reduced by 80 percent, according to Janelle Orsi of the Sustainable Law Economies Center.
Specifically, that means Hoang’s original fine of $9,000 was reduced to $1,800; Tam’s fine was reduced from $5,000 to $1,000; and Mok’s fine was dropped from $1,500 to $300.
The penalties were imposed after the farmers were cited by state labor regulators from the California Department Labor Standards Enforcement in summer 2013. The citations were issued following inspections of each farm, and were for violations such as providing incomplete information on their employees’ pay stubs.
Orsi and other advocates for the farmers complained that the original fines were unreasonable, and in some cases even applied illegally due to incorrect information provided by inspectors on citations. Plus, the farmers – who speak little English – were not provided the opportunity to explain or contest the DLSE’s claims on-site because they were not offered adequate translation services.
Still, labor regulators have a long way to go before their citation and penalty procedures are fair to all employers in California, Orsi said.
“It is a relief that these matters are finally closed and that we will not need to work on any additional litigation,” Orsi said. “However, the outcome still feels unjust. For example, Mr. Hoang is still paying a fine of $1,800 for a very small clerical error, and this is on top of all his legal fees and travel expenses to attend hearings.”
Orsi said a “better outcome” would have been to reduce the fines to an amount equivalent to that of a parking ticket, because the growers were cited for “harmless and inadvertent” errors.
“And I strongly believe the DLSE should reform its enforcement practices, so that farmers do not need to struggle through the arduous appeal process to defend against unfair fines,” Orsi continued.
Furthermore, DLSE’s fine schedule is “unconstitutionally excessive,” Orsi added.
Orsi’s intern is in the process of writing a guide for employers on how to comply with state labor codes and prepare proper wage statements, and Orsi hopes the DLSE will include something similar on its website.
The Sustainable Law Economies Center is a nonprofit organization that offers legal education, research, advice and advocacy for “just and resilient economies.”
A phone call to the DLSE requesting comment was not returned.
