KALAHEO – Kauai Coffee Company, Inc. was one of four growers statewide that agreed to a $2.4 million settlement Tuesday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for inaction against civil rights abuses against Thai migrant workers allegedly committed by the contract labor provider Global Horizons Manpower.
Thai farm workers were contracted through Global between 2003 and 2007 under the H2-A temporary visa program. The EEOC alleges that Global violated requirements that H2-A farm workers be provided food and housing aside from paid labor.
In addition, EEOC said the workers paid exorbitant recruitment fees that created conditions of debt bondage and vulnerabilities to denial or delay of pay, controlled movement with confiscated passports, and inhumane living conditions. Those who complained were retaliated against.
Anna Park, the regional EEOC attorney for Los Angeles District, commended the farms, and in particular Kauai Coffee and Del Monte Fresh Produce in Hawaii, as “the example that sets the stage for change” in the dominant agriculture industry of Hawaii and California. The settlement helps to ensure that farms take a role in preventing civil rights abuses even when not the direct employer.
“The farms previously had an arms-length relationship and now there is an expectation that they will hold the labor contractors accountable,” Park said. “Today’s settlement requires that the farms take action when faced with discrimination.”
The settlements become official with the federal consent decrees finalized Tuesday. The amounts paid directly to workers through a process yet to be announced were $1.6 million for Mac Farms of Hawaii, $425,000 for Kauai Coffee Company, $275,000 for Kelena Farms, and $100,000 for Captain Cook Coffee.
Del Monte Farm Fresh settled for $1.2 million in late 2013. Kelena and Captain Cook also paid out an additional $4.9 million to match benefits of other workers at the time the Thai workers were hired by Global.
Wayne Katayama, president and general manager of Kauai Coffee Company, LLC, said the settlement puts the issue behind them.
“The consent decree concerns matters that predated by at least five years the operation and management of the Kauai coffee plantation by the Kauai Coffee Company, LLC,” Katayama said. “Any monetary assessment of the EEOC settlement will be paid by the predecessor.”
The human resources policies, programs and practices of Kauai Coffee Company are not at issue, he added, and that Kauai Coffee is committed to EOE principles in the workplace with a corporate record of promoting equal employment opportunity.
“Kauai Coffee Company wishes to use today’s announcement to underscore its message to employees, stakeholders and consumers that discrimination or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated,” Katayama said.
Maui Pineapple Company, the only Hawaii farm that did not settle with the EEOC, will take its federal case to trial on Nov. 18.
The settlement became possible in March, after U.S. District of Hawaii Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi ruled that Beverly Hills-based Global Horizons was liable for a pattern or practice of harassing, discriminating, and retaliating against 500 Thai farm workers on American farms, based on national origin and race, in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws. As joint employers by contract, the farms were liable in part for the acts committed by Global.
