Court Awards Farmworkers $1.48M in Back Pay for Packing Onions

A federal judge has ordered a Vidalia onion producer to pay nearly $1.5 million in back wages and damages to workers for overtime pay, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday.

Following a bench trial and a series of stipulations from both sides, U.S. Chief District Judge J. Randal Hall of the Southern District of Georgia ordered Bland Farms Production and Packing of Glennville—identified on its website as the largest grower, packer and shipper of sweet onions in the U.S.—to pay $1.48 million in back wages and liquidated damages. The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division alleged that Bland violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.