"Company took money from farmworkers' pay for political donations in SC, feds say,"

A South Carolina company illegally took money from more than 1,300 farmworkers’ wages to pay for political donations, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

The employees were migrants working temporarily at Titan Farms in Ridge Spring under the H-2A program, according to the federal agency...

Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co. asked the migrant workers to make political contributions with the money they earned, according to the Department of Labor, an investigation by the agency’s Wage and Hour Division found...

This violated H2-A program regulations because the workers’ “adverse effect wage rate” fell “below the required $11.13 per hour,” according to a Jan. 7 news release issued by the Department of Labor...

“At no point were workers required to make political contributions, nor were any such deductions made from their wages for this purpose,” the company said. “The Department of Labor ultimately dropped that allegation.”...

Titan Fruit & Vegetable also illegally made farmworkers pay cleaning fees to a local crew for housing that the company provided to them, according to the department...

More than 600 of these workers are still owed $132,308, according to the Department of Labor, which is calling on the public for help in finding them.

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