3 Laid-Off Farmworkers Sue Irvine Co.; Claim Unfair Discharges, Severance Pay

Three Mexican-born agricultural workers, each with at least 10 years of service, have sued the Irvine Co., claiming that they were unfairly discharged and inadequately compensated during the company’s recent layoffs.

Jesus Becerra, 48; Adolfo Varela, 42, and Jose Torres, 43--all legal residents of California--were among the 240 employees laid off by the company June 20 when it trimmed its payroll by 18%.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Orange County Superior Court by Irvine attorney William M. Crosby, the workers claim that the company should have given them more notice that they were to be terminated and should have paid them at least six months of severance compensation.

When it announced the layoffs, the Irvine Co. said it would provide four to 30 weeks’ salary in severance pay, depending on the employee’s length of service.

But the three workers who sued have been living with their families in low-rent company housing and now must find other accommodations. Two of them have been allowed to stay in their homes until Sept. 3, but they said they may have to return to Mexico after that.

Crosby, a self-described conservative Republican, said the case is different from typical compensatory labor litigation because the dismissals have caused his clients undue hardship. The lawsuit claims that the company should have considered the three workers’ “personal self-interests at least to the same extent as its own economic interest.”

“Their whole lives have been uprooted,” Crosby said. “Their children go to school here, and they’ve contributed to the community. Why should they get any less just because they are laborers? They are hard-working, dedicated men who deserve better. There are issues of social conscience here.”

Suit Called ‘Without Merit’

Irvine Co. attorney Peter Zeughauser said, however, that the lawsuit is “without merit.” He also confirmed that the company had refused one offer of an out-of-court settlement by Crosby before the lawsuit was filed.

“We don’t feel the three workers have a cause of action against us,” Zeughauser said. “The severance the workers were given was a generous package and exceeded industry standards.”

The three workers, part of a nine-member irrigation crew, were notified June 20 that they would be terminated as of July 3. On June 24, Becerra and Torres--both of whom have worked for the company 10 years--were offered 10 weeks’ severance pay. Varela, who has worked for the company 12 years, was offered 12 weeks’ pay.

The lawsuit claims Becerra and Varela signed papers agreeing to those amounts under pressure of outright dismissal without severance pay.

Torres, who has moved his wife and four children in with a brother in the San Fernando Valley, refused to sign the agreement and said he was terminated the next day. In a telephone interview Thursday, Torres said his severance pay was reduced to four weeks.

Torres said he was physically injured at the time of the layoffs and wanted the company to give him time to consider the settlement offer.

“They told me that if I didn’t sign, they’d fire me and I would lose six weeks (of severance pay),” he said.

Although Becerra and Varela have been allowed to stay in the houses provided by the company at rents of only $125 a month, they will not get their severance pay until Sept. 3 when they are to vacate the homes.

In interviews Thursday, both men said they had never missed a day of work and had always been loyal to the company. Both began working for the company at less than $3 an hour but through the years had advanced to $6.50 an hour. Both have five minor children.

They also said that they had been unable to find other jobs or adequate housing they can afford. Varela said he could not afford to move out and pay $750 in monthly rent on a house, especially when a landlord would require a deposit plus the first and last month’s rent before the family could move in.

“There isn’t much I can do,” Varela said. “I don’t know what I will do on Sept. 3.”

But what they say they don’t want to do is to move their families back to Mexico.

‘Hard on the Children’

“That would be very hard on the children,” Becerra said. “They would miss school. They’ve been going to school here for a long time. But if I don’t have a job, I’ll have to take them back to Guadalajara.”

Varela echoed the sentiment and said he may have to take his family to his native state of Michoacan.

Both men also said they were uneasy about the lawsuit, pointing out that they do not understand the intricacies of the U.S. legal system.

“I’ve never been in a situation like this before, not here (nor) in Mexico,” Becerra said. “But we had to do something. They shuffled the cards for us without much thought to our lives.”