It was shut down temporarily after teen worker died

Record Staff Writer

KEYES - Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor Services, which had been allowed to resume contracting agriculture laborers for farmers as of June 26 after being ordered by the state to stop after a teen worker died, was again ordered to cease operating Thursday.

The stop-work order is based on heat violations found at a Keyes vineyard in Stanislaus County, where the contractor provided laborers. Inspectors with the state division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the contractor for not providing workers with adequate shade from the heat, said Paul Feist, a spokesman for the California Labor and Development Agency, which oversees Cal/OSHA.

The state is in the process of revoking the contractor license of owner Maria De Colugna, Feist said. De Colugna is under investigation in connection with the death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a Lodi 17-year-old who died of heat exhaustion in May after working at a Farmington vineyard under the contractor's supervision. De Colugna had previously been fined in 2006 for a heat violation, which has not been paid to date, Feist said.

After Jimenez's death, inspectors cited the contractor again in June for not meeting heat standards at a south San Joaquin County vineyard. State officials issued a stop-work order until the contractor came into compliance. The order was lifted June 26.

Now Merced Farm Labor has failed to meet heat illness prevention standards just one week after being reinstated.

De Colugna said Thursday: "I have no comment right now, because I'm trying to deal with Cal/OSHA."

Feist said the department is working to revoke De Colugna's contractor license by September, the month her license comes up for renewal.

"Revocation would most likely prevent them from renewing again," Feist said.

"We're not going to let this contractor operate until we're fully convinced they're in compliance," Feist said.

United Farm Workers, the farm labor union which brought attention to the Jimenez case, released a statement criticizing Merced Farm Labor just prior to Cal/OSHA's second stop-work order Thursday.

"Merced Farm Labor should not be allowed to operate under any circumstances," union President Arturo S. Rodriguez wrote. "One month ago the Governor issued a statement saying 'Employers or labor contractors who do not comply with the heat illness prevention standards will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.' But at this moment his words are meaningless. It defies all reason why the state would allow Merced Farm Labor to operate again."

As temperatures rise next week, Feist cautioned all contractors and companies with outdoor employees to be aware of their obligations under heat illness prevention regulations. Temperatures are expected to hit triple digits next week, with a high of 101 degrees expected Tuesday.