Farmworkers Sue for Abuse of Migrant Worker Program at Connecticut Farm

On Dec. 18, five migrant workers served notice of a class action lawsuit on N. Casertano Greenhouses & Farms, a Connecticut-based farm and wholesale nursery, and national labor contractor Manzana, LLC. Plaintiffs Francisco Javier Zavala Martinez, Rene Meza Quirino, Carlos Giovanni Perez Castro, Luis Adrian Perez Garcia, and Victor Hugo Maximo Diaz allege that the companies and their owners have exploited migrant workers by recruiting and hiring them through the federal H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa program, only to systematically violate the program’s rules. 

Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit on Dec. 2, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. They are represented by students and faculty from the Worker and Immigrant Rights and Advocacy Clinic (WIRAC) at Yale Law School.

According to the clinic, defendants Casertano Greenhouses and Manzana, LLC have extracted labor from the plaintiffs, including assembly of Christmas decorations sold to consumers this holiday season, in violation of federal and state law.

The H-2A visa program allows employers to bring foreign workers to the United States for temporary agricultural labor. As alleged in the complaint, defendants Casertano Greenhouses and Manzana, LLC have abused the H-2A temporary visa program since at least 2019 to force economically vulnerable Mexican migrant workers into a cycle of dependence and forced labor.

The lawsuit alleges that contrary to H-2A program rules and federal and state law, the defendants have repeatedly demanded unauthorized fees, unlawfully forced workers to take a month of unpaid leave in the middle of each growing season, delayed pay, threatened deportation, forbidden workers from leaving their overcrowded housing units, and prevented workers from speaking honestly with federal investigators. By creating an atmosphere of fear and domination, the defendants secured a cheap, continuous, and reliable workforce. 

With the holiday season approaching, this lawsuit serves as an important reminder. Consumer products are often made by workers, like plaintiffs, who are subject to exploitation and conditions of abuse.”
—Laura Plata ’26

“We are bringing this lawsuit because we know there are people that are going through the same things we went through — people who don’t speak up about abuse because they desperately need work,” said plaintiff Francisco Javier Zavala Martinez. “That’s how I was at the beginning. I came to the U.S. because my mother was sick, and her roof caved in. I needed work, and I stayed quiet about the abuse for four years. The stress was awful. But I want other workers to know that they have rights, that there are laws that protect us.”

In addition to its greenhouse and farm operation, Casertano Greenhouses boasts that it is “one of the largest providers in the country of outdoor Christmas décor.” In order to meet their needs for the holiday season, defendants required plaintiffs to work extended workweeks —between nine and 10 hours per day, approximately six days a week, from September until early December — all without overtime pay. These conditions are flagrant violations of H-2A program rules, according to the clinic.

“With the holiday season approaching, this lawsuit serves as an important reminder,” said Laura Plata ’26, a law student intern in WIRAC. “Consumer products are often made by workers, like plaintiffs, who are subject to exploitation and conditions of abuse driven by the desire of companies, like defendants, to meet mass production goals at whatever cost, whether by flagrantly violating the law or denying basic respect for the human dignity of their employees.”

“While plaintiffs filed this lawsuit to seek justice on behalf of the workers harmed by the defendants’ scheme here in Connecticut, in reality H-2A workers across the country are vulnerable to similar abuses,” explained Gabriela Torres-Lorenzotti ’25, another law student intern in the clinic. 

H-2A workers are uniquely vulnerable to exploitation because the program ties workers’ immigration status to a single job, and employers also control workers’ housing. Under the program, employers such as Manzana transport economically vulnerable workers to worksites far from home, where they are often geographically, socially, and linguistically isolated, and are always heavily reliant on their employer-landlord. The program is rife with abuse, according to the clinic, as the U.S. Department of Labor and numerous watchdog organizations have long recognized. 

“The economy in Mexico is very difficult,” explained plaintiff Carlos Giovanni Perez Castro. “You are always looking for a way to get ahead. And companies like Manzana really abuse and take advantage of that need.” 

Defendants Manzana and its owner Lawrence Williams have been sued at least twice in recent years for systemic abuse of the H-2A program, including failure to pay H-2A workers the wages guaranteed by their contracts, fraudulent promises, and national origin discrimination.

The Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic (WIRAC), a part of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, represents immigrants, low-wage workers, and their organizations in labor, immigration, criminal justice, civil rights, and other matters. The clinic docket includes cases at all stages of legal proceedings in Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. District Court, the U.S Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and before Connecticut state agencies and courts.