2 supervisors get fines for death of pregnant worker
March 14, 2011 by Fred HosierPosted in: criminal charges, Fatality, Special Report, Teen workers, What do you think?, Worker health, working in heat or cold
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In the nation’s first criminal prosecution involving the heat-related death of a farm worker, a plea agreement has resulted in small fines, probation and community service time for two supervisors. Seventeen-year-old Maria Isavel Vasquez Jimenez was overcome while pruning grapes for nine hours in 100-degree heat in a California vineyard in 2008. She was two months pregnant.
Maria De Los Angeles Colunga, owner of Merced Farm Labor, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to provide shade. She must perform 40 hours of community service, serve three years’ probation and pay a $370 fine.
Colunga’s brother, Elias Armenta, the company’s safety director, pleaded guilty to a felony count of failing to follow safety regulations that resulted in death. He must perform 480 hours of community service, serve five years’ probation and pay a $1,000 fine.
The plea deal also bans both from ever working again in farm labor contracting.
Farm worker advocates say the two should have been sentenced to jail time and that the plea agreements could undermine California’s first-in-the-nation law that requires shade and water for outdoor employees working in high heat.
Prosecutor Lester Fleming said he agreed to the plea bargain because trying the case would likely result in the same outcome. Fleming says it was hard to find witnesses because most farm workers don’t speak English and many are in the country illegally.
Do you think prosecutors came to the best solution in this case? Should the two supervisors have gone to jail? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.
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Tags: criminal prosecution, death of pregnant employee, working in hot weather
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March 15th, 2011 at 10:01 am
No, the prosecutors did a poor job, this is a young girls life we are talking about. There should have been jail time. It is just plain ignorance not too supply shade & water in those kind of work conditions. Hopefully, the two supervisors are remorseful.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:03 am
Even a minor heat cramp injury can rapidly excellerate to a heat stroke injury if left untreated. Heat injuries will haunt a person for years to come. Supervisors need to educate themselves and their workers about the dangers and supply them with plenty of water and work them at a slower pace.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:04 am
What a sad loss of life. This was totally avoidable. Had I been baby’s daddy that sentence would pale in comparison to my vigilante justice. Two lives died, two lives need to be taken as tribute. That’s just my feeling on the situation.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:14 am
There are some factors missing that would most likely sway my comment. Such factors would be,
1. Were the supervisors aware that she was pregnant? 2. Were there any signs of fatique? If the answer to either these two questions were yes, then the supervisors and the company should be held responsible for both deaths. With that said, jail is not always the answer, even though we like to think so. There are times that if the accused had to perform the tasks in the same environmental conditions in which they caused the death, a more meaningful lesson will be learned.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:29 am
It is hard to make a conclusion without knowing all the details on the case. The first impression is that there was negligence from the field supervisors, or the owners of the harvesting business, and if it is like it sounds, the sentence of community service and especially the fines, are a joke.
With that said, not everything is always like it looks. There are many factors that can add to this, one is the fact that the farms workers will not always report when they feel sick or week for several reasons such as; they do not want to show weakness, they are afraid to be fired, or simple they need the hours for the money. What it would make the difference in the case is what was the company doing to prevent this.. Were the workers trained on heat stress and instructed to report to the supervisors? Were the supervisor trained on how to respond when an employee report feeling sick, or even to looked for stress employees? Was water and shade available? Where the workers getting breaks? Did this worker actually report she was feeling sick… and so on… Again, without knowing the detail, it is hard to conclude a fair verdict.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:38 am
There is a Ambient Air Temperatrue chart that is available on line. This chart is similar to the wind chill chart in as much as it tells you the Apparent Temperature is with the added humidity. The article didn’t state what the relative humidity was. But the temperature was reported to be over 100 degrees which should alert supervisors and workers. If the humitity was 40% the Apparent Temperature would have been 110 degrees; If the humitidy was 70% the apparent termperature would have been 144 degrees.
This is a tragic and preventable loss of lives.
March 15th, 2011 at 10:39 am
YES! Both supervisors “should” have been jailed! There were 2 lives taken that day. And virtually, all they got was a slap on the hand? Give me a break! More than the rules of the OSH Act were broken. And I really, really hate plea bargins!!
March 15th, 2011 at 10:57 am
The supervisors should be fired fined and spend jail time. The company should be shut down, fined and lose thier lisence permanently for the deaths and for hiring illegal workers. All employees should be backround checked and all illegals deported.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:09 am
It is unimaginable to me that we would have an animal work in those conditions, much less a human being. Cheap labor often comes at a hefty price when one of those lives are lost. And every life is valuable. I think a suffocating jail cell down in Mexico would be a fitting sentence. I certainly do not think justice was served. They got the proverbial slap on the hand while some family buries two of their own. It’s sickening.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:36 am
There are many unanswered questions here. Did the laborer know she was pregnant and if she did why wasn’t she more proactive with regards to her own health? Were the supervisors on site? Where was the father, if known, and why wasn’t he more involved with the 17 year old’s well-being? This snippet of an article makes everyone look pretty stupid and careless, from the worker herself to the supervisors.
March 15th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Anyone with common sence knows that if you are working in the hot sun you need to protect yourself from heat stroke. I think this is murder and they should serve jail time. As supervisors it is their responsibility to protect their workers.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Before became a illegal alien, you are a human being, then right after you became a illegal worker, you have the right of having a safe work environment (At least in America) So, employees must be diligent and perform the pertinent assessments to ensure that the work environment is safe for employees, now as a safety professional, is your responsibility to research and find the best possible way to protect your employees (ignorance will not apply here) and as owner you are the ultimate responsible for your entire operation (Food safety and occupational safety wise)
Thanks for those illegal workers, we can afford to still paying 99 cents for a hamburger; Do you really think that a legal and fully English speaker will be willing to work for $ 8.00.00 per hour on the fields of california; even worst a 50 cents for each full basket of harvested produce?
March 15th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Good point Melody! Had an animal been treated this way the SPCA would have demanded a stiffer sentence on the supervisor.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
I am so sick of people getting away with doing wrong! They both should be jailed, fined and made to work under those conditions to see how they like it…and she was pregnant?! It just sickens me!
March 15th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
That is shocking community service? Fines of $370.00 and $1,000.00.
I thought human life was precious!!!!!~But then I should know better, I got hurt on the job in 1993 and am constantly struggling to have WC pay my Dr and Meds even though I am permanently disabled but working. EVEN Though the WC judge ordered my ongoing treatment.
Back to this was there no one monitoring the workers no one explained to the workers about heat illness? This was avoidable and should never have happened.
People say government needs to stay out of buisness here is another reason business needs to be watched and who but the Government can do it?
March 15th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
excellent point Melody! Had this abuse happened to an animal the animal rights activist would have demanded fines and imprisonment.
March 15th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
One of the symptoms of heat related illness is confusion. The young girl may not have been aware she needed to report feeling ill. It is the job of those in charge to monitor the worker’s safety. This is a horrible end to a young life regardless of whether or not she was pregnant. NO one should be required to work 9 hours without breaks, shade, or water in any kind of weather; it is inhuman! This is unforgivable and I fear not the last death of this sort. No one wants to pay $5.00 for a head of lettuce, so the poor and desperate will pay with their lives.
March 15th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
The prosecutors did a horrible job! So no, I don’t believe they came to the best solution. Those two should have had some jail time! There were TWO LIVES LOST and how dare the prosecutors to put such little value to those lives.
Yes, Melody … it is truly sickening. I wonder how the prosecutors can sleep at night!
March 15th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
I understand that it is a horrible loss, but a couple of things come to mind.Did the worker go thru Heat training? Did they know where the shade was? Did the emloyee let her supervisor know that she was having difficulties? Did any other employees check on her? So many times we hold the supervisors feet to the fire, but sometimes the employees need to be responsible for themselves.
March 15th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Clearly judge, lawyers just didn’t care enough to enforce the law to the fullest. Yes, of course they should have served a jail sentence - a young girl died and soon to be a mother due to negligence and GREED. Not certain but isn’t 17 also considered a minor and minors should only work part-time on a daily basis - why was this person allowed to work 9 hrs. Clearly there seems to be other violations involved. I’m appalled by the judge , jury (if any), prosecuters and defense lawyers (really pathetic).
March 15th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Alecfinn,
Civil law can take care of the problems you are so concerned about without the need for more government. Family can bring suit for much more than what the judge awarded.
March 15th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Sadly, the Justice System makes mistakes and poor judge calls, as does everyone else. We (the people) are held accountable for our mistakes, so why not the justice system? I’m a senior level HSE professional with an additional 17 years of state and federal law enforcement experience. I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’m shocked to learn of this instance of injustice. I believe there might be some “hidden” reasons behind this type of plea agreement. Negligence is negligence, whether or not the supervisors knew of her condition. The supervisors had presumed knowledge. Knowledge of the working conditions and failed to provide a safe working environment, failure to monitor work conditions. What is life worth? Obviously, not much in the California Wine industry.
March 15th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
This was unfortunate but jail really-what does that do bring back the mother, correct the conditions I don’t think so. Now lessons should be learned from this and the brother and sister should not be allowed to have the level of supervision they had before and the migrant workers educated in the signs of heat stroke and what to do for it, but even this may not help since many are afraid of being replaced esp. if they are illegial either immigrants or felons on the run both of which are found in the crews that follow the crops in Florida. Agian a tragic and preventable situation
March 16th, 2011 at 8:49 am
I didn’t read all the threads; however, what I did read did not take into consideration the fact that this worker who died may have been illegally employed by this comapny. It was mentioned that many of the worders were illegal aliens. If so, then the employer should go to jail for hiring those who are ILLEGALLY here in this country. I mean, what does “illegal” mean anyway? If I do something illegally, I probably will be prosecuted and go to jail. I am not a prejudiced person, nor am I a racist. However, supposing this girl was illegally here in this country. Had she not been hired in the first place, she would, perhaps, be still alive and enjoy the birth of her baby, etc.
Aside from all this, the owner/s should have been prosecuted and jailed-at least for a while anyway. We need a lot more justice in this country of ours than what we have been experienceing.
March 16th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
DBS
I agree that there are other avenues to provide compensation but that is after the fact. I deal with workplace injuries and have seen the damage they do to workers from irresponsible supervisors and uncaring employers. My concern is that this incident is a preventable incident(as are so many) and should not have happened.
It is a fallacy to think that most employers are looking out for the workers in most cases the workers suffer because of a lack of interest in safety or protecting workers vs. the bottom line.
I am 60 years old and as I mentioned I have had to investigate these incidents and am always concerned over the apathy of business have to invest in worker protection. It needs to be noted that these incidents are constantly happening look at the Gulf coast and BP’s safety record for the plant in Texas or the explosion due to sugar dust in the south. If you check the Chemical Safety Boards site and others such as OSHAs it becomes so obvious there are constant lapses in worker protection.
Business is out to make a profit and it should but not at a cost of lives or ruined lives. Jobs are being sent overseas because the cost of doing business is less where there is no regard for worker protections for after all to protect workers is costly be it lost time for training or the cost of PPE.
The only entity that can effectively protect workers is Government through monitoring and law enforcement by creating the appropriate laws and guidelines for worker protections then enforcing those guidelines. All too often as is indicated by reading this site and others as well as investigating these incidents shows how the lack of worker safety kills maims and or destroys lives. It needs to be said that it is not only the person injured that is affected but the people that love them and their families.
That is my concern……..But then I have always believed that human life is precious and should be protected and cared for not discounted if favor of efficiency or more profit.
Maybe I am wrong……..I do not think so, even if I did not investigate accidents my life has been affected by organizations that did not practice safety appropriately. These incidents range from my dad dying of lung cancer from work to my better half being crippled by chemical searing of the lungs from no PPE at work….to close friends dying of mesothelomia….and my own experiences of being hurt at work and having to give up so much of my life from an on the injury and the complications it caused over the years. My own personal losses range from a $17,000.00 pay cut to being physically restricted in what I am able to do in life.
March 19th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Whether they should receive jail time or not, I don’t know that answer. Was there severe neglect: absolutely, especially by the “safety director.” What was he doing with his time?! Showing common human decency would have prevented this tragedy. No excuses.
March 21st, 2011 at 9:03 pm
People shouldn’t jump to conclusions. What if the employer had an arrangement with her that she could work on her own schedule and he paid her piecework? What if the employer didn’t even know she was working that day? I would like to take responsibility for myself if I don’t drink water and don’t wear a hat for shade and don’t take breaks. That’s not usually my boss’s fault. Give me some freedom to make my own choices. Tragedy does happen and we can’t always blame someone else.
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:33 pm
No one has mentioned the fact that her brother was the safety director at the time. Did everyone miss that little fact.
How do we know what really happened? Did anyone even know she was expecting? Common sense should take control at some point. We need to take responsibility for our own actions. Maybe she didn’t know she was expecting and this was found out after her death-anyone think of that?
Regardless, that will not bring the girl or her child back. The laws we have in place are only as strong as those that carry them out.
It is impossible to make a fair judgement in this case as none of us know all the facts. We can all guess and make foolish statements, but the truth is none of us know what actually happened. We know the results, but not what really happened. And, we never will.
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:22 am
Joyce: I thought the same thing too until I read it several times. The her, I think, in her brother was refering to the supervisor.
April 5th, 2011 at 9:47 am
It doesn’t really matter whether the young girl knew she was pregnant or not, in those conditions anyone could have died. As a supervisor, you are to supervise…meaning you are constantly checking on progress, acitivity, and workers. The only real question that needs to be answered is was the supervisor doing his job? The answer is no, or he would have noticed the young girl was not at peak performance. No matter how many job sites you supervise or employees, it is your job to know what is going on at all times. Common sense tells the average citizen you cannot put someone working in the extreme temperatures we experience without some kind of relief. Jail is not harsh enough for these two. Bring back chain gangs and put them on the line. Then they can hope, their supervisor is more diligent in doing his job then they were.
April 5th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Cecilia
You are completely correct
April 5th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Other than the unfortunate deaths of these workers, the worst outcome of this is the precedent (or lack of precedent) what this verdicts sets. Being in charge of safety training, I always like use real cases to make aware to the supervisors the terrific consequences that may result for negligence or lack of safety.
Now, what I’m supposed to say to the supervisors when doing training on heat stress? ..” If you do not follow the procedures and somebody die, then you may have to pay a fine of $400 to $1000 and do some community service”?
…. This sentence really sends a terrible message to negligent companies and bad supervisors.
April 5th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I totally agree Antores. This sends a bad message all the way around; whether or not the individual was legal or illegal, they are a human being first and as a society we should insure the safety of all workers.
A lot of people have mentioned the status of legal or illegal. That is an entirely separate issue from the two just getting fined and community service. Utilizing illegal immigrants in your place of business is illegal in itself and the company should suffer the consequences of that action separate. Once they hire them and allow them to work illegally, they are obligated to ensure their safety at work.
I know it is not the platform, but I just wanted to say something about illegals working in the US. As long as we, Americans, allow companies to employ and abuse foreign workers for their profit, Americans will be out of work. No American would have tolerated the conditions this girl endured to cause her death, but as long as we don’t speak out and make these companies pay and shut them down for actions such as these, they will continue to illicit illegals to work in poor conditions for little pay and no benefits and as for the illegal…long as someone is going to give them that job and the promise of a better future for them and their family, they will continue to flood the US and take your job. Okay, off my soapbox now!
April 13th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Cecilia
This is exactly one of the platforms to discuss the problem of illegal immigrants being employed here in the USA. What happened to the young lady above is tragic her being pregnant only increases the tragedy as now a complete innocent has paid an unnecessary price for negligence.
It is indeed a very bad message that the penalty for this was so light. Although I do feel for the owner and the “Safety Manager” as the knowing you contributed to another person’s death (in particular a pregnant person) has to weigh heavily on those people. But your comment is correct about employing folk that do not have the same rights as Americans and the legal immigrants indeed sets up situations as above. You are also right that by employing someone legal or illegal you then have a responsibility to those folk for the appropriate training and PPE for their jobs.
The act of not taking care of the employees you are responsible for is appalling………well at least to me. But then I have been reprimanded for being too “Safe” in my style. Then again I am too “safe” until something happens then its OOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!! Thankfully I have not been overturned so we have avoided the damage that could have happened.