An administrative law judge has ordered beleaguered farm labor contractor Global Horizons Inc. to pay $347,000 for failing to properly pay Thai farmworkers in Hawaii and violating a federal temporary agricultural laborer program, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.  In a 146-page decision handed down May 6, Administrative Law Judge William Dorsey found Los Angeles-based Global Horizons and its president Mordechai Orian jointly and severally liable for underpaying 88 temporary agricultural workers from Thailand employed in Hawaii and violating the federal H-2A temporary nonimmigrant agricultural laborer program.  In addition to issuing the monetary judgment, Judge Dorsey barred the company and Orian from participating in the program for three years.

"It's appropriate that Global Horizons and its owner are barred from employing H-2A workers for the next three years," U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. "These workers left their families and homes with the expectation that they would be treated fairly and paid properly. Instead, Global Horizons violated multiple rules under the H-2A program designed to protect both domestic and foreign workers and provide a level playing field for all agricultural employers."  The DOL accused Global Horizons of a slew of labor violations, including failing to pay employees for all hours worked, failing pay the correct hourly wage rate and improperly withholding federal income tax.  The government further alleged that the company made illegal deductions from the Thai workers' wages for meals and other living expenses, charged workers for housing-related expenses like water, electricity and sewage, and failed to pay workers for their transportation and subsistence costs. (click on link to read full story)