SOMIS : Packinghouse Fined $27,000 Over Labor Law

State officials Wednesday fined a Somis packing plant $27,000 and temporarily shut down the operation for allegedly failing to provide workers’ compensation insurance for its employees.

During the second day of a countywide sweep aimed at cracking down on labor law violations, the Ojai-Tapo Citrus Assn. was ordered to stop work until it insured its employees against on-the-job accidents. State records showed that the company’s workers’ compensation policy expired as of Jan. 1, investigators said.

But operators of the packing plant said they believe the fine and citation are in error. Contrary to the findings of state investigators, company officials said the policy had been renewed and was in effect.

“We think we run a pretty good operation here,” said Al Bakalian, general manager of the packinghouse.

For the second day in a row, workers from the state labor commissioner’s office and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health inspected farms, nurseries and other agricultural operations throughout Ventura County.

The investigators are members of the Targeted Industries Partnership Program, established in late 1992 to beef up enforcement of laws designed to protect farm workers and other laborers.

So far, inspectors from the joint enforcement and educational program have conducted more than 600 agricultural inspections statewide and issued more than 400 citations resulting in more than $1 million in fines.

On Wednesday, investigators visited Pleasant Valley Flowers in Oxnard. They told owner Wim Zwinkels that they would return to do an audit to ensure that a handful of employees had received the proper amount of overtime pay. Otherwise, the flower grower received a clean bill of health.

“We basically try to keep everybody happy,” Zwinkels said.

Later that afternoon, investigators visited a field near Camarillo where workers stood bent from the waist, cutting and packing celery into cardboard boxes.

The crew was under the supervision of a farm labor contractor from Salinas who allegedly required workers to buy their own knives and other equipment needed to work the field. Investigators required the contractor to reimburse the workers for the costs of the equipment, a total of about $3,000.

“The cost of doing business was being shifted to the employees, and that’s illegal in California,” said Tony Guilin, a deputy labor commissioner based in Ventura. “And we’re talking one labor contractor out of several that we know are doing the same thing.”

Investigators said they expect to continue their countywide inspections today.