Guest workers sue ranchers

Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 2, 2006 at midnight

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Five Chilean guest workers sued the owners of a large northwestern Colorado ranch Thursday, claiming the owners violated labor and wage laws.

The workers said they worked seven days a week, 10 to 16 hours a day, and were paid $2 to $3 per hour, according to Jennifer Lee of Colorado Rural Legal Services, which filed the lawsuit.

Six members of the Wright Dickinson family own the Vermillion Ranch, which holds permits to graze animals on thousands of acres of federal land.

Pauline Dickinson said the family hadn't been notified of the suit and had no knowledge of the allegations. Her son, T. Wright Dickinson, is a former Moffat County commissioner and Great Outdoors Colorado board member.

Lee, in a news release, said the Dickinson family confiscated the workers' passports, visas and Social Security cards when they arrived and withheld their wages until their three-year work contract ended.

"The Dickinsons misused the H-2A visas to obtain foreign workers who worked for wages far below the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour," Lee said.

Lee said the workers received only a half-day off on Christmas each year and were given inadequate medical care for serious injuries.

The H-2A visa is granted for temporary and agricultural workers and limits the labor to ranching or farming for one employer.

Lee said the Chilean guest workers were required to work as mechanics, landscapers and to do other nonagricultural tasks.

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