A group of California farmers has joined the fight against "hero pay" with a lawsuit filed in Riverside County Superior Court, which the defendants removed to federal court.
The Western Growers Association, the California Fresh Fruit Association, and Growing Coachella Valley sued the city of Coachella alleging that pay for foreign agricultural workers is supposed to be set by federal law, not by Coachella’s urgency ordinance.
“Congress has enacted a statute specifically stating what the compensation is supposed to be for workers in that class,” said Timothy Snowball, litigation attorney for the Freedom Foundation. “This lawsuit touches upon the very heart of the basic idea of federalism in our system of government.”
The city council of Coachella approved extending $4 an hour of additional hero pay temporarily in February to not only grocery store workers but also retail pharmacy, restaurant, and farmworkers as a reward because, arguably, they face greater exposure to COVID-19.
But since then some 15.9 million people or 40% of the population statewide have been fully inoculated against the coronavirus as of May 20, according to California’s vaccine dashboard.
“The crisis is winding down now and they are seeking to keep this in effect so it looks like in this situation, like in many situations regarding COVID-19, the defendants are trying to use COVID-19 as a way to make changes in the law that they otherwise would not be able to make,” Snowball told the Southern California Record.
Other California cities, including Long Beach, San Leandro, Montebello, Oakland, and West Hollywood, were sued by the California Grocers Association (CGA) for allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution’s equal protection clause after approving hero pay for grocery store workers.
On February 25, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California Otis Wright denied CGAs motion for a preliminary injunction against the city of Long Beach.
“It’s not necessarily a controlling authority,” Snowball said. “It’s not controlling the judge in this case. The judge, in this case, could look at the other cases and if the claims are similar could allow them to inform their opinion or what they decide but it’s not a controlling authority in that it doesn’t require the judge to do so.”
U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California John W. Holcomb, who was nominated by former President Trump, is assigned to adjudicate Western Growers Association et al v. City of Coachella et al
“Not all 8,000 farm workers will be covered but it has nothing to do with their immigration status,” said Megan Beaman Jacinto, an attorney and member of the Coachella City Council. “Any farm worker who is covered under the requirements of the ordinance will be entitled to hero pay regardless of their immigration status, which is irrelevant."
Some 8,000 farm workers live in Coachella, according to media reports but the ordinance only applies to stores and agricultural centers with more than five employees that are located in Coachella.
“Workers in these industries, in particular, are suffering at rates of infection and death multiple times higher than even other essential workers,” Jacinto told the Southern California Record. “In the case of farm workers, studies show they are becoming sick at a three times higher rate than even other frontline workers.”
Jacinto is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. As previously reported, Coachella is the first city in the nation to require premium pay for farmworkers.
“We understand that the hero pay ordinance in Coachella and in the other jurisdictions will have a financial impact on these companies but we weighed that impact with the requirements of the law and also the risks that essential workers are taking literally to their lives right now to work during the pandemic and the needs that those workers have,” Jacinto said. “This is the decision that we made in light of all those factors.”
Plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the Coachella Urgency Ordinance is invalid and for a temporary and permanent injunction restraining the City of Coachella and its council members from enforcing it with respect to agricultural employers, the plaintiffs, and plaintiffs' farming members.