Farm labor contractor fined less than cost of the license he didn't buy

A farm labor contractor was fined $175 after admitting he was operating last summer without the required state license.

Hector Hugo Flores , 35, of Buhl, was fined last month by Twin Falls County Magistrate Roger Harris. The state Labor Department said Friday that Flores’ fine didn’t even match the $250 cost of a license.

The maximum penalty for violating the farm labor contractor licensing law is $1,000 in fines and 60 days in jail. Violations are misdemeanors.

Flores was the ninth person convicted of violating the 2003 state licensing law. None has been sentenced to jail, but Flores’s is the first case in which probation has not been imposed, the Labor Department said. His father, Jose Flores of Twin Falls, was convicted in 2006 of the same offense and was sentenced to two years’ probation with a $300 fine.

Idaho has more than three dozen licensed farm labor contractors. Licensing is designed to make sure employees are paid the wages they are due. The law also protects farmers who hire licensed contractors by relieving them of liability for unpaid wages and workers’ compensation claims.