Sixteen American laborers are suing a large Vidalia onion farm in federal court, alleging the Georgia grower paid them less than the federal minimum wage and discriminated against them by paying Mexican guest workers higher wages.
The Georgia Legal Services Program is representing the plaintiffs in their lawsuit against Stanley Farms. The plaintiffs filed their suit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Statesboro, seeking unpaid wages, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Stanley Farms did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
The onion grower is not the first Georgia farm to face a federal lawsuit concerning foreign guest workers.
Last year, Hamilton Growers/Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetables Inc. agreed to pay $500,000 to a group of American laborers and their attorneys to resolve an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged the Norman Park vegetable farm discriminated against the U.S. laborers and fired them so it could replace them with Mexican guest workers. The farm also fired black American workers because of their race and national origin, the EEOC said in its complaint.
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