The Labor Department says it is working to pay over $130,000 in wages recovered from a South Carolina peach farm. The agency says Titan Farms illegally deducted money from migrant workers’ paychecks by charging cleaning fees and soliciting political donations.
The Labor Department did not say what the donations related to but did say the total deductions brought employees’ paychecks below the required minimum wage.
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Titan Farms participates in the H-2A visa program, which allows it to hire seasonal migrant workers from other countries. The program requires companies to pay at least $11.13 an hour when factoring in benefits and fees.
A company spokesperson told two local newspapers in South Carolina that the company did not require donations from employees or deduct such money from their wages. The company also denied any wrongdoing related to the cleaning fees that the Labor Department alleges it collected.
Affected workers who the Labor Department hasn’t located yet can check their status on the agency’s database at DOL.gov.
