[Reuters]
The U.S. government will hand over nearly $5 million to dozens of Thai laborers who had worked at a pineapple plantation in Hawaii, as part of money recovered from a lawsuit over alleged workplace abuses, officials announced late Tuesday.
In 2015, a federal court in Hawaii awarded more than $8.1 million to 54 Thai nationals who had worked at Maui Pineapple Ltd., in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the nation’s labor trafficking laws.
The court found that the Thai workers were subjected to physical violence – such as being thrown against the wall, and grabbed and punched in the face – ruling that Maui Pineapple and other defendants were liable for discrimination over national origin and race, the EEOC said in a news release.
LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that $4.8 million has been recovered to satisfy a judgment in a national origin and race.