Record fine in worker’s death

The company that hired a pregnant teenager who died of heatstroke this spring after laboring in a Central Valley vineyard was hit Wednesday with the highest fine ever issued to a California farming operation.

The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor a record $262,700 for violating eight workplace safety requirements. The agency said that in some cases the violations were intentional.

Authorities believe 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died May 14 because her supervisors denied her access to shade and water as she pruned white wine grapes for more than nine hours in nearly triple-digit heat.

“I feel good because at least they’re being fined for not doing anything when all that happened,” said her fiance, 19-year-old Florentino Bautista, who is back working among the grape vines for a different employer. “Now we’ll have to see if they keep acting the same way.”

Inspectors found that Merced Farm Labor not only failed to provide water but deliberately neglected to train workers and managers on how to stay safe while working in the valley’s punishing heat. The company also willfully skirted requirements for dealing with a medical emergency, the agency said.

Those three violations are classified the most serious and each carries a $70,000 penalty, the highest allowed under civil law. The company has 15 business days to file an appeal, and if it does so, the case could go before an administrative law judge who could reduce, accept or increase the fines, division spokesman Dean Fryer said.