Landscaping company owes $36K in back wages, $40K in H-2B penalties

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said Alvarado Landscaping of Lorain, Ohio, must pay $40k in penalties and $36k in back wages following violations of the temporary foreign workers’ visa program.

As part of the H-2B temporary worker program, employers that hire temporary foreign workers must pay their international transportation and meal expenses while they travel from their home country, a federal requirement that a Lorain, Ohio, landscaping company violated when it left the workers it hired to pay their own way to the U.S.

An investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Alvarado Landscaping owed 12 temporary employees $36,179 in back wages for violations of the H-2B Visa program. The company also paid $40,000 in civil money penalties.

“These workers, who are away from their families for months at a time, deserve to be paid every penny of the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director George Victory in Columbus, Ohio. “Enforcing the requirements of this program protects these vulnerable workers, protects U.S. workers in this industry and levels the playing field for employers who play be the rules.”

The division determined Alvarado Landscaping violated the H2-B program when it:

• Failed to pay workers’ inbound and outbound international transportation and meal costs.
• Paid H-2B workers overtime hours in cash at a rate less than the required wage.
• Took impermissible deductions from workers’ pay to cover their housing.
• Provided investigators with inaccurate time and pay records.

For more information about the H-2B Program, the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).