A federal judge has ruled that a labor recruiting company that was previously accused of human trafficking did harass, discriminate and retaliate against hundreds of Thai workers in Hawaii.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi leaves for a jury to decide the amount of money Global Horizons owes 530 Thai workers it imported to work on farms on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island and what measures it needs to implement to prevent future abuses. Trial is set for November.
Kobayashi based her ruling on claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Global Horizons did not dispute and the company’s own admissions.
She said company officers, employees and associates physically and verbally harassed the Thai workers and treated them worse than they did other workers because they are Thai — and retaliated against them when they complained.
The EEOC claimed that Global Horizons subjected Thai workers to barbaric security measures to hold them as a captive workforce.
EEOC lawyer Anna Park said most of the abuses occurred at Maui Pineapple Co.’s historic plantations and dormitories where the workers were forced to live.
Global Horizons did not respond to the EEOC’s request for the ruling or a previous EEOC request for another ruling in its favor.
The company’s lawyer in California did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday’s ruling.
The EEOC filed a lawsuit in 2011 on behalf of the workers against Global Horizons, Captain Cook Coffee Co., Del Monte Fresh Produce, Kauai Coffee Co., Kalena Farms, Mac Farms of Hawaii and Maui Pineapple Co.
It settled with Del Monte for $1.2 million in November and settled later for undisclosed amounts with the other farms except Maui Pineapple.
Park says so far, no money has been distributed to any Thai workers.
A companion lawsuit the EEOC filed in Washington state against Global Horizons and two farms is set for trial in September.
In 2012 the federal government dropped its human trafficking prosecution of Global Horizons, owner Mordechai Yosef Orian and other company officers and employees. Orian’s Hawaii lawyer, Michael Green, said at the time that his client lost everything defending himself against criminal charges.
