Wales v. Jack M. Berry, Inc., 95-66-CIV-FTM-23(B).
| Decision Date | 25 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-66-CIV-FTM-23(B).,95-66-CIV-FTM-23(B). |
| Citation | 192 F.Supp.2d 1269 |
| Parties | Gedeon WALES, et al., Plaintiffs, v. JACK M. BERRY, INC., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida |
A. Neal Barkus, Jeffrey B. Hardie, Hunton & Williams, Washington, DC, D. Alan Rudlin, Hunton & Williams, Richmond, VA, Thomas M. Mackall, Hunton & Williams, Washington, DC, Cathy L. Lucrezi, Law Office of Cathy L. Lucrezi, Ft. Meyers, FL, for Plaintiffs.
G. ParisSykes, Jr., David P. Phippen, Kilpatrick Stockton, L.L.P., Atlanta, GA, James Lawrence Nulan, Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A., Ft. Meyers, FL, for Defendants.
FINDINGS OF FACT and CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
This is an action on behalf of a large number of citrus workers alleging violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act ("AWPA"), 29 U.S.C. 1801-1872, and the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. 201-219, during the three citrus harvest seasons from 1991-1994 at citrus groves owned and operated by the defendants. The non-jury trial in this case has been bifurcated between the issues of liability and damages. The first phase of the trial focused primarily upon the number of hours and days worked during the workweeks of the three harvest seasons. Other issues, however, were also addressed. Based upon the testimony that was presented, and the evidence that was adduced, the following findings of fact and conclusions of law are rendered pursuant to Rule 52(a), F.R.Civ.P.
1. The plaintiffs in Count I are approximately 2800 migrant and seasonal citrus pickers employed by the defendants to harvest citrus during the harvest seasons of 1991-1992, 1992-1993 and 1993-1994. Sixty-five of those pickers have opted into the representative action under the FLSA alleged in Count II. A small number of individual plaintiffs have alleged retaliation in Count III. In Count IV, some plaintiffs have alleged that the defendants failed to pay promised bonuses and incentives.
2. The overwhelming majority of the plaintiffs are originally from Mexico, Guatemala or Haiti. Most of the plaintiffs assert that they do not either speak or read English. The ability to understand English would obviously vary among such a large number of individuals.
3. Defendant Jack M. Berry, Inc., ("Berry") or its predecessor owned approximately 20,000 acres of orange, grapefruit and other citrus groves in Southwest Florida during the three-year period in question. The majority of these were located in and around LaBelle and Immokalee, Florida. During the 1991-1994 period, Berry was owned and controlled by Jack M. Berry, Sr., and his wife.
4. Berry contracted with Defendant Eagle Lake Harvesting Corporation ("Eagle Lake") to harvest citrus from its groves. During the period in question, Eagle Lake was owned entirely by Jack M. Berry, Sr., and his wife. All of Eagle Lake's income came from harvesting citrus from the Berry groves.
5. Berry and Eagle Lake were a single, integrated operation. The two companies operated from the same principal office building. The president of Eagle Lake, Michael Murphy, was an employee of Berry. He attended Berry management meetings and reported to Cal Sellers, executive vice president of Berry.
6. All of the officers, managers and other salaried personnel assigned to run Eagle Lake were employees of Berry. All of the vehicles and equipment used by Eagle Lake in its harvesting operations were owned by Berry.
7. Berry operated a juice processing plant at its LaBelle, Florida, headquarters. Much of the citrus harvested by Eagle Lake was processed at this plant. Eagle Lake's harvesting schedule was determined by the needs of the processing plant.
8. Eagle Lake operated with a three-tiered management structure. Reporting to Murphy was William Rollins, the harvest manager. Reporting to Rollins were two harvest supervisors. The harvest supervisor position was filled at pertinent times by Bernardo Barnhart, Pete Aguilar and Raul Rodriguez.
9. The harvest manager and supervisors were responsible for scheduling the groves for harvest, overseeing the harvest operations, inspecting the work of the harvesting crews, and giving instructions to crew leaders.
10. The defendants were aware that their operations were covered by the FLSA and that they were required to pay the plaintiffs at least the minimum wage for each hour worked in the workweek. The defendants mounted posters at the entrances to their groves and in their offices announcing to employees their right to receive the minimum wage, which at that time was $4.25 per hour. The defendants were also aware that the FLSA required Eagle Lake to keep accurate time records.
11. The defendants, in addition, were aware that their operations were covered by the AWPA.
12. Berry's groves around LaBelle and Immokalee mostly were in remote, sparsely populated areas. They had no permanent structures. Trees were planted in bedded rows and were irrigated by ditches running parallel to the beds.
13. The defendants grew and harvested about 10 to 12 different varieties of oranges. The harvest of early season varieties began in mid-October to November. Mid-season oranges were harvested beginning in the last half of January. Valencias were the primary late season orange, and their harvest began in late March and could last into June.
14. Prior to the harvest, Eagle Lake hired as many as 50 to 60 workers at the minimum hourly wage to perform grove maintenance. Eagle Lake began hiring for the harvest from mid-October through early November. The size of the picking staff grew as workers returned to the area. The maximum number of pickers on the payroll at one time was between 350 and 400. Turnover in the picking crews was somewhere in the vicinity of 25%. Crews that remained at the end of the season were released at the same time. Those crews had a full day's work up until the season ended. When pickers were released, they were no longer employees of Eagle Lake, and they would not necessarily return from season to season.
15. The plaintiffs harvested citrus by hand. This was done either standing under the tree or by climbing a ladder to reach the fruit. Citrus trees have thorns. Consequently, pickers would normally wear some protection against the thorns, such as long-sleeved shirts and gloves. Gloves were not provided by the defendants.
16. Picking citrus is a difficult job, requiring strength, stamina and agility. It has been compared to an athletic ability. Accordingly, not every picker is equally skilled. Thus, the productivity of pickers on the same crew can vary. Further, the productivity of an individual picker can vary from day to day. The variations in productivity could be due to physical factors and they could also be due to motivational factors.
17. Fruit was normally placed into a large pick sack worn by the picker. When full, the sack weighs about 90 to 100 pounds and is the rough equivalent of the traditional "box." Actual boxes, however, are no longer used at this stage of the harvest.
18. After the sack is filled, the picker deposits the fruit in a large receptacle called a bin. The bins at Eagle Lake held 10 boxes of fruit. Typically two bins were assigned to each picker each workday. These would be positioned by the picker near the trees he or she was picking.
19. Full bins of fruit were lifted by, and dumped into, a motorized vehicle called a high-lift or "goat." The goat held eight bins of fruit.
20. When a picker's full bin of fruit was dumped into a goat, he or she was either given a token or a tally card that was punched by the goat driver. The crew leader would also keep a record of the number of bins of fruit lifted and dumped for each picker during the day. Bins that were filled one day but not lifted and dumped until the next day were not credited to the picker until they were dumped.
21. After the goat was filled, it was driven to a large trailer and dumped. When the trailer was full, it was picked up by a trailer driver and its contents were taken to the juice processing plant in LaBelle. Eighty to one hundred trailers of fruit would be processed at the plant each day.
22. When a goat broke down, the bins could not be emptied. The goat would have to be taken to the shop for repair or simply replaced. However, a spare goat was always available. If there were multiple breakdowns, equipment would be coordinated in an effort to keep the crews picking.
23. Nevertheless, there were times that lack of useable equipment would delay picking. Thus, a crew could arrive in the morning and find that the bins were still full from the day before, so that the pickers had to wait to begin working until the bins were emptied. Similarly, at times, empty bins were unavailable. Delays could also be caused by the absence of goats or empty trailers.
24. The plaintiffs presented testimony that these equipment-related delays were frequent and often lengthy. I find this testimony to be exaggerated and not credible.
25. When a crew finished picking its assigned grove, a supervisor had to inspect the grove for missed fruit, called "shiners," and for trash. Crews were forced to wait during this inspection process. If the grove had not been picked clean or if trash was found, the crew was required to remedy this. At times, the crews would have to wait for a supervisor to arrive. When a crew was cleared to begin picking another grove, it was transported to that grove during the workday by the crew leader.
26. I reject as not credible the testimony that crews often had to wait for several hours for an inspection to take place. It obviously was in the defendants' interest to expedite this process in order to keep the crews working.
27. Eagle Lake engaged crew leaders to supervise...
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