The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor that enforces major federal labor laws. It investigates employers, conducts inspections (including of farmworker housing), and recovers back wages and assesses civil money penalties when laws on minimum wage, overtime, child labor, family and medical leave, and protections for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers are violated. WHD also provides education and compliance assistance to help workers understand their rights and employers understand their obligations.
The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) is the main federal law protecting migrant and seasonal farmworkers. It: (1) requires many farm labor contractors to register with the Department of Labor; (2) requires covered employers and contractors to give workers written information, in a language they understand, about the terms and conditions of employment and any housing or transportation before they start work; (3) requires timely payment of the wages promised and accurate payroll records; (4) requires that any housing or transportation provided to migrant and seasonal workers meet federal and state safety and health standards; and (5) prohibits retaliation against workers for asserting their rights under the Act.
Here, “charged workers rent” means the company required workers to pay to live in employer-provided housing, likely through direct payments or deductions from their pay. Federal law does not make all rent charges illegal: agricultural employers can often charge for housing if it is safe, complies with all federal and state standards, and the costs and conditions are clearly disclosed in advance, and if any payroll deductions do not reduce workers’ pay below required minimums under other laws. In this case, WHD found the housing had serious safety and sanitation problems and that the employer failed to provide required information about job and housing conditions beforehand. Because MSPA requires anyone who owns or controls migrant worker housing to meet safety standards and to disclose terms and charges, collecting rent for substandard, noncompliant housing was deemed an illegal practice, and the rent had to be repaid as back wages.
The Department of Labor reports that it “recovered $171,400 in back wages … to reimburse workers for the rent charged by the employer,” which indicates the amount represents unlawful rent payments that workers previously made. The agency has not publicly provided a detailed breakdown of how much each of the 30 workers was owed or the exact period covered. In WHD cases generally, the division either supervises the employer’s payment directly to affected workers or collects the money and then pays workers it can locate. If workers cannot be found right away, their back wages are held for up to three years in the Workers Owed Wages (WOW) system; workers can search for their employer online, verify their identity, submit a claim form, and then receive the money (now paid electronically) after WHD processes the claim.
Civil money penalties are monetary fines that a government agency can impose for breaking a law or regulation, separate from any back wages owed to workers. Under MSPA, the Wage and Hour Division may assess a civil money penalty for each violation of the Act or its regulations, up to a maximum dollar amount per violation that is adjusted each year for inflation (in 2025, up to $3,126 per MSPA violation). To determine a total penalty, WHD identifies the number and type of violations and then applies these per‑violation limits; the $76,274 assessed against Lucky Growers reflects the sum of multiple MSPA violations calculated under those caps. The Department of Labor has not published the exact line‑by‑line calculation it used in this specific case.
The Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program is a voluntary program run by the Wage and Hour Division that lets employers self‑report and quickly correct potential violations of federal minimum wage and overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and certain Family and Medical Leave Act violations. To participate, an employer must: (1) be covered by the FLSA and/or FMLA and not already be under investigation or in litigation over the same pay or leave practices; (2) review DOL’s PAID compliance‑assistance materials; (3) conduct a self‑audit to identify which employees were affected, when, and how much back pay or other remedies are owed; (4) contact WHD and submit its findings, calculations, and required certifications; and, if WHD accepts the case, (5) pay 100% of the back wages and provide any other required remedies within 15 days, providing proof of payment to WHD.
A worker can check if the Wage and Hour Division is holding back wages for them by using the online Workers Owed Wages (WOW) application. The worker goes to the WOW page, searches for their employer’s name, and then looks for their own name in any listed cases. If wages are owed, WOW collects contact information so WHD can send a Back Wage Claim Form (WH‑60); the worker signs the form and uploads it with identification through a secure login.gov account. WHD then processes the claim—typically within about six weeks—and issues payment electronically. WHD links to this search tool from its main website and from enforcement news releases like the Lucky Growers case.
For agricultural employers, the Wage and Hour Division provides an Agriculture Compliance Assistance Toolkit and related materials. The toolkit highlights key obligations on wages, written disclosure of working conditions, safe and compliant housing and transportation, field sanitation, child labor, and treatment of H‑2A workers; it includes plain‑language guides such as “Cultivating Compliance,” an agricultural youth‑employment pocket guide, and checklists for housing, transportation safety, and field sanitation, as well as links to required federal posters (MSPA, FLSA, H‑2A, etc.). More broadly, WHD’s compliance‑assistance resources include industry‑specific toolkits, fact sheets, posters, presentations, and the ability to request opinion letters, plus a free timesheet app workers and employers can use to track hours and pay.