Half Moon Bay farms to pay workers $450K in back wages and damages in probe that began after deadly shooting, feds say

Two mushroom farms in Northern California agreed to pay more than $450,000 in back wages and damages for dozens of employees stemming from a federal work- and living-conditions investigation that started after seven people were fatally shot there in 2023, the US Department of Labor said this week.

Two mushroom farms in Northern California agreed to pay more than $450,000 in back wages and damages for dozens of employees stemming from a federal work- and living-conditions investigation that started after seven people were fatally shot there in 2023, the US Department of Labor said this week. The investigation into California Terra Gardens and Concord Farms Inc. in Half Moon Bay found the employers underpaid workers and provided unsafe housing conditions with mold and insect infestation, the Labor Department said in a news release Monday. The back wages and damages are part of administrative settlements the department reached with the two farms for multiple violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, the department said. “Our investigators found workers at California Terra Gardens and Concord Farms housed in sickening conditions, forced to sleep near garbage and with insects all around,” Alberto Raymond, the department’s wage and hour division assistant district director, said in the release. At California Terra Gardens, investigators uncovered that 39 workers were housed in cramped cargo containers, garages and dilapidated trailers, according to the department. They were forced to sleep on filthy mattresses and were exposed to insects and trash, according to the labor department. The farm’s owners deducted money from workers’ pay for the substandard housing illegally, the department determined. Two miles away, investigators found workers at Concord Farms were housed in moldy, makeshift rooms in a greenhouse infested with insects, the department said. That farm’s owner shortchanged workers by not paying overtime past 40 hours worked in a week, and by not paying for work off the clock, the department said.