Landscaping Company Rocco Fiore & Sons Facing H-2B Visa Workers’ Wage and Hour Lawsuit

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From Illinois federal court comes a proposed collective and class action that alleges Rocco Fiore & Sons, Inc. and the landscaping company’s owner maintain a practice of failing to pay H-2B visa workers lawful wages.

Behind the lawsuit is a laborer who worked for the defendants from April 2017 to October 2018 on a temporary H-2B worker visa. The visa program, according to the suit, requires participating employers to adhere to all applicable federal and state labor laws. The man alleges, however, that he and other workers were deprived of proper minimum and overtime wages as a result of pay deductions, unpaid travel time and unreimbursed expenses.

The plaintiff claims his wages were subject to unauthorized deductions for uniform costs and further argues that he was not paid for time spent traveling from the company’s shop to the worksite each day.

Moreover, in potential violation of his employment contract, the man says the defendants did not reimburse him for travel costs incurred on his five-day trip to Illinois from Mexico. More specifically, the case claims the man is owed 1,500 pesos plus another $160 that was spent on bus tickets to get to Illinois. Additionally, the plaintiff says he paid another $130 for food and 1,800 pesos for lodging during his travels. In the past 10 years, the complaint continues, the defendants supposedly haven’t followed through on their obligation to reimburse H-2B visa workers for costs incurred while traveling to and from their origin countries.