Antenor v. D & S FARMS
| Decision Date | 31 July 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-0868-CIV.,90-0868-CIV. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
| Parties | Immacula ANTENOR, et al., Plaintiffs, v. D & S FARMS, Iori Farms, Inc., Virgil S. "Gil" Turke, a/k/a Virgil Banciu, and Ag-Tech Services, Inc., Defendants. |
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Gregory S. Schell, Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc., Belle Glade, FL, for plaintiffs.
Monte B. Lake, McGuiness & Williams, Washington DC, David J. Stephany, Hogg, Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A., Tampa, FL, for defendants, D & S Farms and Iori Farms, Inc.
Virgil S. "Gil" Turke, pro se.
THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendant D & S Farms's Motion for Summary Judgment (D.E. 56), Defendant Iori Farms's Motion for Summary Judgment (D.E. 57) and Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (D.E. 61). For the reasons stated in the memorandum opinion below, United States Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff's Report and Recommendation is hereby affirmed to the extent that it is consistent with the order herein.
On April 4, 1990, Plaintiffs filed a five count class action suit on behalf of 269 seasonal migrant farmworkers to redress and vindicate their rights under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1801, et seq. ("MSAWPA") and the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq., ("FLSA").1 The Plaintiffs seek money damages, declaratory relief and injunctive relief on behalf of themselves and their fellow harvest workers for the Defendants': 1) failure to pay or ensure payment of Social Security (FICA) taxes and to issue and file appropriate W-2 and W-3 forms; 2) failure to pay or ensure payment of unemployment compensation (FUTA) taxes and to issue and file appropriate documents with the Florida Unemployment Compensation Bureau.2
On March 19, 1993, this Court granted Plaintiffs' motion to amend their class action complaint to add an additional 343 seasonal farmworkers as parties plaintiff in the instant case. On that same day, this Court issued an Order referring all dispositive and non-dispositive motions to United States Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 and the Magistrate Rules of the Local Rules of the Southern District of Florida.
On August 2, 1993, Defendant D & S Farms and Iori Farms filed motions for summary judgment on the limited issue of joint employment under the MSAWPA and FLSA.3 On August 4, 1993, Plaintiffs also filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of joint employment.
On August 26, 1993, this Court affirmed Magistrate Judge Turnoff's Report and Recommendation that this case be certified as a class action lawsuit consisting of all migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, as defined by MSAWPA, who were furnished to D & S Farms or Iori Farms, Inc. by Defendant Virgil S. Turke or Ag-Tech Services, Inc. during the 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, or 1988-1989 bean harvests in South Dade County, Florida.
On October 25, 1993, Magistrate Judge Turnoff issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that both D & S Farms and Iori Farms' motions for summary judgment be granted and that Plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment be denied on the grounds that Defendants D & S and Iori Farms were not joint employers of the Plaintiff farmworkers. Plaintiffs filed objections to the Report and Recommendation to which Defendants' filed a Joint Reply to the objections.
In addition to the objections and the reply to the objections, both Parties filed supplemental memoranda of law regarding the issue of joint employment. On January 13, 1994, this Court also held a hearing at which the Parties presented oral argument on the issue of joint employment. However, rather than rendering a decision without guidance from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on the issue of joint employment, this Court issued an Order deferring ruling on Magistrate Judge Turnoff's Report and Recommendation until after the Eleventh Circuit rendered a decision involving a similar pending case on the joint employment issue. On May 20, 1994, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision in Aimable v. Long and Scott Farms, 20 F.3d 434 (11th Cir.1994) providing guidance as to the proper analytical framework for approaching joint employment issues involving the MSAWPA. Accordingly, using the Aimable decision as a framework, this Court is now prepared to decide whether to concur with Magistrate Judge Turnoff's Report and Recommendation.
D & S Farms is a partnership which operates a large vegetable farm located in South Dade County, Florida. D & S Farms produces tomatoes, beans, and other vegetables for sale to produce markets throughout the country. During the 1985-86 harvest season, D & S Farms produced 1250 acres of tomatoes. Iori Farms is a Florida corporation also engaged in the operation of a vegetable farm in South Dade County, Florida. Iori Farms also principally produces tomatoes, harvesting approximately 1250 acres of tomatoes during the 1985-86 harvest season. Ag-Tech Services, Inc. ("Ag-Tech") is a Florida corporation formed by Virgil S. Turke in 1984 in response to a need to bring stability and order to the chaotic farm labor market during the mid-1980's.4
During the mid-1980's, both D & S Farms and Iori Farms ("Defendant Growers") began cultivating snap beans as an additional crop. However, Defendant Growers quickly discovered that they needed a different approach for the harvesting of its bean crops. Although Defendant Growers were satisfied with the organization and control of their tomato crews and tomato harvest workers, Defendant Growers were brand new to bean harvesting and immediately realized that many of the bean harvest workers were unreliable. Consequently, D & S Farms and Iori Farms, through recommendations from other south Dade County growers and local, state, and federal government officials, sought the services of Ag-Tech to provide a reliable labor source for harvesting their bean crops.
Ag-Tech contracted with D & S Farms and Iori Farms to provide harvest labor on a day-to-day basis for a set price based on the amount picked.5 Ag-Tech and the Defendant Growers negotiated a price of $3.90 per hamper of beans picked and delivered to the Growers' packing house facility.6 Although both Defendant Growers had been paying their harvest workers 10 to 15 cents per hamper less, they felt that having a reputable and skilled harvest organization such as Ag-Tech handle the transportation, supervision, payroll accounting and administration for the bean harvest workers was worth the additional expense.
Since Ag-Tech entered into similar agreements with several other south Dade County growers, Ag-Tech was unable to supply all of the labor solely from its crew. Therefore, Ag-Tech hired dozens of other farm labor contractors to serve as subcontractors. Ag-Tech paid the subcontractors a portion of its fee from the growers, leaving the subcontractors responsible for the payment of wages to the individual harvest workers in their respective labor crews. The arrangements between Ag-Tech and the subcontractors were handled without any input from Defendant Growers.
From the $3.90 price per hamper, Defendant Growers retained approximately $0.11 for workers' compensation insurance for the harvest workers. Out of the remaining $3.79, Ag-Tech was responsible for paying the harvest workers' wages, the fees to subcontractors and its own operating expenses, including office clerical workers and field supervisors (called "fieldwalkers").7
The harvest workers were treated by Ag-Tech in many respects as "employees" in the common meaning of the term. For instance, Ag-Tech maintained payroll records and a database indicating each worker's name, address, social security number, and earnings. In some instances, Ag-Tech paid Social Security taxes on behalf of some of the subcontractors for the benefit of their workers. Moreover, the payroll forms used for the workers were distributed by Ag-Tech and bore Ag-Tech's federal identification number and farm labor contractor's license number. Additionally, each worker was issued an identification badge indicating that the worker was an employee of Ag-Tech.
Ag-Tech also appeared to maintain daily control and supervision over the harvest workers in the field. Each day, Defendant Growers' farm managers gave Ag-Tech its assignments for harvesting beans that day. Normally, these assignments would consist of the assignment of a given number of rows of beans to harvest on the following day at a specific location designated by the farm managers. Ag-Tech would then hire sufficient subcontractors to pick the assigned rows of beans. Upon the arrival of the subcontractors' crews at the fields, Ag-Tech assigned each crew a portion of the field to pick. However, Defendant farm managers actually told the crews when they could begin picking the beans.8 Once work began, the individual pickers placed the beans in hampers provided by the Defendant Growers. When a hamper was filled, the worker carried the hamper to a central area in the field, where one of Ag-Tech's employees weighed and sealed it.
Once sealed, the beans were stacked on pallets, provided by the Defendant Growers. This process continued until there were enough pallets to be transported to DiMare Homestead's packinghouse in vehicles provided by Defendant Growers. Ag-Tech, through its fieldwalkers, ensured that the picking process continued in an orderly manner by disciplining its workers when necessary. In certain circumstances, Ag-Tech would deliberately not choose to deal with certain subcontractors or workers.
Initially, Ag-Tech and Defendant Growers maintained a mutually satisfactory relationship. During the initial growing season (the 1985-86 season),9 Ag-Tech's workers were assigned approximately 5 acres per day by D & S...
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