Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, the Sierra-Cascade Nursery was charged with Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations and ordered to pay $457,000 in back wages to 430 employees.

Investigators found that Sierra-Cascade did not properly compensate temporary workers under the H-2A temporary nonimmigrant worker program. They were also found in violation of the program's federal housing and safety health regulations. Reports revealed that housing provided by the employer wasn't heated and there were times when temperatures were below freezing.

Sierra-Cascade hired temporary workers for the Tulelake and Susanville facilities from the H-2A program for sorting, counting and trimming strawberry seedlings and plants at the facilities in California and Oregon.

After hiring the workers, the employer changed the conditions of employment that were originally agreed to and provided them with incomplete versions of the employment contracts. Employees were not compensated regularly for the time they spent traveling to and from work sites and in some instances, Sierra-Cascade failed to record employee attendance at all and instead kept track of production levels only.

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