Bushel Boy Farms in Owatonna to pay $200K in back wages, damages

Bushel Boy Farms is paying nearly $200,000 in back wages and damages to 94 employees for unpaid overtime, state officials said Monday.

The Owatonna, Minn., indoor tomato grower and an Arizona labor contractor, Oro Valley Ag Services, failed to pay employees overtime “even though they consistently worked more than 48 hours a week” between 2020 and 2022, according to the Department of Labor and Industry.

Minnesota law has required overtime pay for agriculture workers for 50 years.

“Employers in Minnesota are legally responsible for paying agricultural workers overtime wages if they work more than 48 hours in a workweek, with limited exceptions,” Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said in a news release. “The department appreciates Bushel Boy’s willingness to quickly resolve this matter by agreeing to pay back wages and liquidated damages to the impacted employees.”

The department issued a compliance order against the company in May, and Bushel Boy entered a consent agreement with the state earlier this month. The company will pay about $97,000 in back pay and an identical amount in damages.

Bushel Boy — which grows tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries year-round in several massive greenhouses — will also incur a $47,000 fine if it breaks the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act in the next three years.

Oro Valley, the labor contractor, provided domestic and H-2A foreign migrant workers for the greenhouse operations. The company did not contest nor respond to the state’s order.