Posted on 12/31/2004 6:12:01 AM PST by Fury
Now that a farm labor contractor has pleaded guilty to recruiting undocumented Mexicans to work on Genesee and Orleans County farms, a seperate lawsuit including 10 local farmers will soon be a focus in court.
A civil case against the 10 farmers has been on hold pending resolution of the criminal case against Maria garcia, her husband and two sons. The family pleaded guilty Dec. 2 to recruiting the illegal workers and then forcing them to work for little or no pay. The Garcia family could face nearly four years in prison when they are sentenced in April.
Their guilty pleases wont' help the farmers in their case, said one of the farmers and Dan Werner, the lawyer who brought the civil action against the farmers and the Garcia family.
The farmers used Maria Garcia as a subcontractor to find workers for their freuit and vegetable farms. Although the farmers weren't active participants in intimidating workers and withholding their pay, Werner said the growers should have been more aware of how Garcia was treating the workers.
She [Garcia] and her family members were given the workers' checks. They forged signatures and cashed the checks, often giving the workers little or none of the pay they earned working on the farms, Werner said.
Garcia faced federal charges for violating anti-slavery, immigration and labor laws. She and her family transported 41 undocumented workers in a van lacking seats and operable windows from Arizona to work at local farms. In one trip, 26 workers were crammed into a van, according to the civil suit.
The workers stayed at crowded camps in unsanitary conditions on Route 31 in Albion and Kendall Road in Kendall, according to the civil suit. More than 30 people stayed in the Albion camp that lacked working water and septic systems.
The workers were kept in permanent debt after being told they owed thousands of dollars for their transportation. "I'll be the first to say New York's farms are not filled with slaves," Werner said. "This was definitely an extreme situation."
Werner characterized the farmers' actions as "intentional ignorance."
The Garcia family supplied local farms with workers for about a decade. They had a bad reputation in the farm community for mistreating workers, Werner said.
In this case if the farmers didn't know what was going on, they didn't want to know," Werner said during a phone interview from his office in Kingston.
Bruce Kirby, an apple grower, is among the 10 farmers named in the lawsuit. Because of the ongoing lititgation he said the farmers won't speak publicly about the lawsuit. Two attorneys, Rick Dollinger of Rochester and Monte Lake of Washington, D.C., are representing the farmers.
"We're crossing out fingers and we'll see how it plays out," Kirby said Wednesday.
Other farmers named in the lawsuit include Anthony Piedmonte of Holley, Rodney Winkstern of Batavia, David Piedmont of Holley, Francis Domoy of Oakfield, Stephen Howard of Fancher, James Kirby of Albion, Philip Vigneri of Elba, Ronald Weiler of Batavia and Robert Venditti of Albion. Three other farms are also included in the civil suit, including Del Mar Farms of Batavia, Howard Produce Sales of Fancher, and Patsy Vigneri & Sons of Hornell.
Werner said the farmers will be asked to pay back unpaid wages up to at least minimum wage. Farmers also could face up to a $500 fine per violation. Werner said farmers together could be asked to pay "well over a million dollars in damages" Kirby said some of the farms may be knocked out of business with a steep judgement.
All of the farmers thought they were paying the workers at least minimum wage, Werner said. They made a mistake, and violated federal labor law, by giving the checks to Garcia, who cashed them. The workers ended up with far less than the minimum wage, and the farmers are being sued to make up the difference.
The liability varies aming the farmers, Werner said. Some farmers often worked with Garcia, employing many workers for several months or years. Other farmers only hired a few workers for a few days, Werner said. The degree of liability will be based on state Department of Labor records from six years.
The criminal case against the Garcia family made national news. They were the first to be charged under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
While the criminal case is focused on the Garcia family and their actions in 2001, the civil case stretches back to July 1996. Werner said about 500 workers could be part of the civil suit.
Werner said he hopes the criminal and civil cases will educate the community about farmworkers. "I hope a lot of people learn a lession from this case," he said. "Workers who have suffered should feel empowered to step forward and say something. Employers need to scrutinize the contractors to ensure Fair Labor laws are being followed. If not, it could come back to bite them."
The main source for this story is the farmworkers' attorney. It's reasonable to ask how much of the money in the civil suit will actually make it to the workers in question.
The farmers in question had an obligation to make sure the workers were not undocumented, as I understand the process. It sounds like they did not.
Batavia! Born there. Grew up in Oakfield.
BTTT!!!!!!
BTTT!!!!!!
So let me get this straight.If you violate anti slavery laws with up to 500 real world victims then you MAY possibly get 4 years in prison or less.But if you are caught with 5 or 6 rocks of crack that you are going to smoke yourself and harm no one but your own lungs you can be subject to 15 years mandatory minumum with no chance at early release for good behavior and if you have a pound of cocaine you will get life with no parole causeing these slave traders to get out even earlier then the 4 years they might be sentenced to so the prison can have more bed space available to warehouse drug dealers and users.If anyone on free republic wantsto stop this absolute nonsence got to www.lp.org and sign up to the party.
Good to know re: Oakfield. US Gypsum is all closed down. They tore down and dismantled all but a few buildings. Paper mill is still open but I wonder for how much longer.
Has the LP changed their open border policy? (it's amazing how many so called republicans now approve of that) I realize they also say no welfare and the illegal invasion will stop. We know that's not going to happen any time soon.
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