The Monterey Superior Court in California recently filed a $1.6 million lawsuit against Salvador Zavala Chavez dba Zavala Farms, a Greenfield farm labor contractor, to reclaim wages for workers who were underpaid, according to a recent release by the California Labor Commissioner. The California Department Industrial Relations' (DIR) Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (Labor Commissioner's Office) investigated the agriculture operation after receiving a complaint.

If the lawsuit moves forward, 150 workers could receive $1.26 million to recover wages lost as the result of minimum wage and overtime pay violations. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guarantees employees receive at least $7.25 per hour and time-and-a-half rates for working more than 40 hours a week. California upholds more stringent labor rights, ensuring workers receive overtime pay if they work more than eight hours per day or 40 hours in a week.

"These workers picked lettuce and worked in grape fields over ten hours a day without receiving overtime pay," said Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su. "This lawsuit is but one example of our commitment to conducting in-depth, meaningful inspections to get the wages earned into workers' pockets."

If employers are not certain they are keeping up with local labor rights, they can subscribe to a payroll processing service that will ensure employees are receiving their rightful wages. 

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