IDAHO STATESMAN November 16, 2006
Coeur d'Alene firm settles labor lawsuit About 500 foreign workers said company didn't pay correct wages, overtimeA Coeur d'Alene tree-planting company settled a lawsuit this fall after being accused of failing to pay correct wages, overtime and transportation expenses for its migrant workers. Alpha Services LLC disputes the accusations, but one of the owners said Wednesday that the company doesn't have enough money to fight the case in court. About 500 workers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, sued Alpha Services this summer with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based organization that does legal work for minorities and low-income people. The workers, who came to the United States legally under the H2-B visa program, said Alpha Services didn't pay them prevailing wages or overtime wages or reimburse them for incoming costs — the amounts spent to come to the United States for work. The law center is suing three other forestry companies over similar issues. Those cases are still pending. Alpha Services agreed in September to pay prevailing wages and necessary overtime wages to employees and to reimburse workers for the expenses they incur getting to the United States, according to a judge's order filed with a federal court in Mississippi. The company also has to keep detailed records of wages and employees' work hours for three years, court documents said. The case was filed in Mississippi because that is where most of the plaintiffs worked. Alpha Services is based in Idaho but has offices in several states in the West and Southeast. Robert Zaharie, who owns Alpha Services, said his company always has paid the prevailing wage required by federal law and any necessary overtime. Prevailing wages vary among states and counties, he said. Tree-planters in Idaho earn between $11 and $14 an hour. In southeastern states, they earn between $6 and $9 an hour, Zaharie said. He thinks the law center targeted his company to push its social agenda, promoting migrant labor rights. About 90 percent of the workers who plant trees for Alpha Services are guest workers under the H2-B visa program, which admits 66,000 foreigners into the United States each year to do temporary manual labor. The settlement has cost his company more than $100,000 in legal fees and likely will cost the company more in the future because Alpha Services must reimburse employees for their incoming costs. Incoming costs range from $250 to $450 per worker depending on where the employee comes from. "Where it's going to cost us is when guys come in and we give them, the first week, the check for incoming costs. It's probably encouraging a lot of them to leave, and then we'll lose," Zaharie said. "The work is arduous so some of them will probably say, ‘Why should I work $10 an hour when I could be doing a construction job or a landscaping job?'" The law center hopes its settlement with Alpha Services and lawsuits against other forestry companies will help change the way guest workers are treated. "Definitely, our goal in bringing multiple suits against players in the forestry industry is to reform the industry," said Kelley Bruner, an attorney with the law center.
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