State Settles Claims Against Tomato Grower

State officials agreed to settle overtime wage claims of more than $1 million with Harry Singh & Sons, California’s largest tomato grower. Labor advocates called the settlement insufficient and criticized government delays and bungling. Sources said the Oceanside farm agreed to pay overtime wages, plus interest, covering the first half of 1993, for a settlement amount of about $180,000, a fraction of what government officials initially estimated. The violations were brought to the state in 1993. But the Department of Industrial Relations didn’t file a lawsuit until May 1995, beyond the statute of limitations for trying to seek wages for 1991 or 1992.