Former workers sue Exeter farm over wages

Former workers sue Exeter farm over wages

Three say Paredez Farms cheated them out of wages.

Posted at 11:04 PM on Wednesday, Oct. 06, 2010
By Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee Share

Three farmworkers have filed a class-action lawsuit against their former employer, Paredez Farms of Exeter, saying they where cheated out of thousands of dollars in wages.

The workers, Douglas Hernandez, Oscar Velasquez and Pamela Torres, who all live in the Bay Area, filed their complaint Sept. 29 in Marin County Superior Court.

They are seeking unpaid wages and penalties for work done from September 2006 to the present.

Named as defendants in the case are Frank Paredez, owner of Paredez Farms, and Ramon Rojas, a one-time employee of the farming company.

Both men deny any wrongdoing, saying the employees never worked for them.

"I never hired them, and I don't even know who they are," Paredez said.

Rojas, who also operates his own produce company in the Bay Area, said he tried to help Hernandez by allowing him to sell some of his fruit, but he was not his employee.

"I am really surprised by this, because all I tried to do is help," Rojas said.

But the workers' attorney, Karen Carrera, is not buying their argument.

She said the company routinely failed to pay the workers appropriately by not keeping track of how many hours they worked.

And it wasn't usual for the employees to work 16 hours a day without being paid overtime or given meal and rest breaks -- all violations of the state labor code, the complaint says.

Carrera estimates that Hernandez alone may be owed nearly $100,000 in wages.

The workers all helped pick, pack and sell Paredez's fruit at several farmers markets in the Bay Area.

Attorneys estimate that there may be as many as 50 potential plaintiffs in the case.

"This is a particularly outrageous case because in addition to not being fully compensated for regular and overtime wages, the employees allege they were verbally abused daily by the employer, were not allowed to use the bathroom for long periods of time and did back-breaking work," said Carrera, an attorney for Legal Aid of Marin.

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6327.

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They're coming out of the "shadows" now, they smell $$$$. Guess their nw patron saint is GLoria Allred? :lol:

I hope the employers ake a huge hit, with most of their money going to the US and all the illegals get deported.

Note to anyone thinking to hire illegal aliens...think again, their labor ain't so "cheap" now, is it? :roll: :roll:

LOL....more illegal invaders becoming embolden enough to step "out of the shadows" and attack those who have employed them. LOL...when will these idiots learn that hiring a third-world invader, with little education, is always a losing proposition - especially with all the anti-American groups in this country who aid and abet these criminals.

And it wasn't usual for the employees to work 16 hours a day without being paid overtime or given meal and rest breaks -- all violations of the state labor code, the complaint says.

Carrera estimates that Hernandez alone may be owed nearly $100,000 in wages.

The workers all helped pick, pack and sell Paredez's fruit at several farmers markets in the Bay Area.




It is funny how all of a sudden they start opening their mouths and complain about working conditions and the long hours they work with no pay....They Know this before they even sneak in they tell us every day how we Americans won't do the work they do..They are so proud of it that they call us lazy!
SO if amnesty passes they would go on a suing party and sue all the employers who hired them the same people that gave them more money than they even deserved for being illegal and that same money went to Mexico. Well I guess if all those employers out their keep hiring illegals then they are going to end up paying more than they would have if they paid a good wage to Americans plus room and board. Awe heck they don't have to wait for amensty they all are suing anyway...
Greedy little suckers!