U.S. Department of Labor: Missouri Vegetable Farm LLC, and its owners Benjy Proffer and Robert Proffer, under the Fair Labor Standards Act Fined to Pay $479,983 Back Wages

In a legal order and settlement agreement recorded in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on March 12, 2024, and an H-2A settlement agreement finalized on Dec. 29, 2023, Missouri Vegetable Farm LLC, along with its proprietors Benjy Proffer and Robert Proffer, have been directed to pay $394,159 in Fair Labor Standards Act back wages to 102 H-2A temporary visa workers and 105 U.S. workers.

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The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor has fined a Park Hills, Missouri-based vegetable farming and packing company $479,983. This penalty comes after an investigation uncovered the owed amount to 208 workers. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri recently announced the settlement.

Wage and Hour Division District Director Noah Lee in St. Louis stated, "Employers must understand the wage requirements for the workers they employ. When seeking approval to hire temporary visa workers, employers agree to specific terms for pay rates, job tasks and other compensation and must also pay non-visa employees at least the same rate." He added, "The wages recovered for these workers will have a significant impact on their lives. Many of them may not have understood their rights to overtime pay."

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In a legal order and settlement agreement recorded in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on March 12, 2024, and an H-2A settlement agreement finalized on Dec. 29, 2023, Missouri Vegetable Farm LLC, along with its proprietors Benjy Proffer and Robert Proffer, have been directed to pay $394,159 in Fair Labor Standards Act back wages to 102 H-2A temporary visa workers and 105 U.S. workers. Additionally, they will pay $85,824 in H-2A back wages to 22 corresponding U.S. workers. The company has also been fined $38,289 for violating H-2A regulations.

This action stems from an investigation conducted by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which discovered that Missouri Vegetable Farm frequently failed to pay workers at a rate of one and a half times the adverse effect wage rate for the specific agricultural tasks performed when they worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek. The company also failed to properly combine hours worked by employees in both farming and packaging operations, and neglected to pay the required wage rate. The investigation reviewed pay records from May 1, 2021, through Dec. 15, 2021.

According to the news release, Proffer Company, a family-owned wholesale produce company, is recognized as the parent organization of Missouri Vegetable Farm. The company was authorized to employ temporary visa workers through the H-2A temporary agricultural program, which permits foreign workers to work in the agricultural sector on a seasonal or temporary basis.

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