NEW YORK TIMES

February 13, 2010

Arkansas: Migrants Win $2.75 Million

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

An Arkansas tree-planting company has agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle a lawsuit in which foreign guest workers accused it of often paying less than the minimum wage and not paying for all hours worked. The money will go to 2,200 workers from Mexico and Central America in one of the largest settlements ever reached under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. The workers, who planted pine seedlings throughout the Southeast, entered the country under a guest worker visa program.