Judge: Georgia company must pay foreign workers $11.8 million [View all]

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Posted: 1:54 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012
Judge: Georgia company must pay foreign workers $11.8 million
By Jeremy Redmon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


A federal judge this week ordered a Georgia forestry contractor to pay $11.8 million to Guatemalan and Mexican guest workers who said they were cheated out of wages while they planted trees for the company.

That judgment against Franklin-based Eller & Sons Trees Inc. is the largest court award of its kind for such guest workers, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs in the case.

An attorney representing Eller & Sons did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The company filed court papers, denying the guest workers’ allegations.

The class action lawsuit covered about 4,000 guest workers who worked for the company between 1999 and 2008, according to the SPLC. The plaintiffs alleged the company did not pay them a prevailing wage for their labor or the federal minimum wage as required by U.S. labor laws.


Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-news/judge-georgia-company-must-pay-foreign-workers-118/nSrm5/