Migrant Farmworkers Sue Seed Corn Company Over Wages and Housing

By Clark Kauffman

Seven migrant farmworkers from Texas claim they were recruited to work in Iowa, where they were paid illegally low wages and forced to live in substandard housing.

The workers are suing Remington Seeds, which operates a seed corn processing facility in DeWitt, in southeast Iowa; and Javier Chapa, a Texas labor broker who runs Chapa Global Contracting. Chapa was allegedly hired by Remington to recruit, house, and supervise migrant farmworkers in Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas.

The Texas residents who are suing Chapa and Remington in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa are Homero Reyes, Manuel Ozuna Chavez, Luis Acuna, Antonio de la Rosa, Felipe Arevalo Gonzalez, Juan Antonio Cantu Gonzalez, and Juan Lopez Escamilla.

Their lawsuit claims the defendants violated the law that requires employers to pay American workers, such as the plaintiffs, the same wages paid to foreigners enrolled in the H-2A program, which allows foreign nationals to fill temporary agricultural jobs.

The plaintiffs allege that Chapa concealed the fact that he was employing higher-paid foreign nationals in a seed corn processing plant in Nebraska, and that Chapa also refused to let the plaintiffs take the higher-paying Nebraska jobs.

The lawsuit claims that for five years, Chapa recruited the plaintiffs to travel from Texas to Iowa, where they worked in Remington’s seed corn processing facility in DeWitt.

In August, at the beginning of each work season, Chapa allegedly had the workers gather in McAllen, Texas, where they were required to board a bus bound for Iowa. Once in Iowa, the plaintiffs were required to stay for the season at a Quality Inn hotel in Clinton, where they were allegedly barred from eating the complimentary breakfast offered to other guests each morning.

The workers allege they sometimes slept four to a single two-bed room, forcing them to either sleep with each other or on the floor, and that they were required to reimburse Chapa for the cost of their lodging. In October, at the end of each season, the workers returned to Texas on another bus chartered by Chapa.

The plaintiffs allege that in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, they were each required to reimburse Chapa for the cost of their lodging, as well as $450 for bus rides and meals, and that they were barred from using their personal vehicles.

The reimbursements for transportation, meals, and lodging, which the lawsuit characterizes as “kickbacks” paid by the workers to Chapa, effectively reduced their overtime wages to a level below the federally mandated minimum compensation.

The lawsuit also alleges Chapa failed to comply with the federal law that requires any person who owns or controls housing for migrant agricultural workers to ensure the housing complies with federal safety and health standards.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and seeks damages for lost wages, lodging in “substandard housing at the Quality Inn,” and for discrimination that resulted in them being barred from eating breakfast at the hotel.

The lawsuit also seeks an injunction requiring the defendants to comply with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

Chapa declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by Iowa Capital Dispatch. Calls to Remington Seeds were not immediately returned on Thursday.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.