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Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
Solis Farm Labor ordered to vacate fields last week
State says heat illness violations found
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The California Department of Industrial Relations shut down a Galt-based labor contractor last week, the second in two days that the state said was not complying with heat-illness regulations.
The Solis Farm Labor Contractors were issued an order to prohibit operations in the field on June 13, one day after the state issued the same order to Merced Farm Labor.
The Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor came under fire in May when 17-year-old farm laborer, Maria Isabel Vasquez-Jimenez, collapsed in the fields on May 14, in the midst of a heat wave, and died from heat-related causes. Her death led to demonstrations in the streets of Lodi, as well as an outcry from the governor of California over the plight of field workers in the heat of the California sun.
“This action is another signal to every employer and labor contractor across the state of California – obey the law or shut down,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement following the funeral he attended for Jimenez in Lodi. “Companies that fail to protect worker safety will be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law. Worker safety from heat illness will be protected in the state of California.”
The investigation into Solis Farm Labor began in May when they were identified as one of two labor contractors working the Farmington vineyard on the day Jiminez-Vasquez died. Both Merced Farm Labor and Solis Farm Labor have received prior citations for labor violations in the past.
Upon conclusion of the undercover investigation, the state issued the order to prohibit use after determining that, “Solis Farm Labor may be continuing to hire and placeworkers in unsafe and unhealthy working conditions,” read the order.
California law requires employers to train supervisors, and employees who work outside about the symptoms of heat related illnesses. The law also requires employers have an emergency medical plan in the event of heat related illness in the fields, and also mandates employee access to shade and water throughout the day.
Solis Farm Labor is being charged with failure to provide heat-illness training to its employees.
“We are actively pursuing employers who fail to meet our heat illness standards and as we did with Merced Farm Labor, we are taking this step to ensure that workers employed by this company are not put at risk,” said DIR Director John Duncan. “We have evidence to suggest that this company has failed to train its employees, and this order will be in force until the company is in full compliance with California heat illness prevention regulations.”
The state conducted an undercover sweep of more than 25 agriculture work sites in San Joaquin County, discovering a variety of violations related to heat-illness prevention. The sweep uncovered 10 employers without any emergency medical assistance plans, and 20 additional violations of heat illness prevention standards related to shade and water.
Sweeps for heat illness prevention compliance are conducted daily throughout California, with special teams dispatched whenever the temperatures rise to 100 degrees or higher, or during a government issued heat wave alert.
Employees that have work-related questions or complaints can call the California Workers’ Hotline at (866) 924-9757.
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