Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Inc. v. Pinnock

735 So. 2d 530, 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 6686
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 19, 1999
DocketNo. 97-0706
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 735 So. 2d 530 (Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Inc. v. Pinnock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Inc. v. Pinnock, 735 So. 2d 530, 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 6686 (Fla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

WARNER, J.

We deny the motion for rehearing and rehearing en banc but withdraw our prior opinion and substitute the following in its place.

This is an appeal from an order determining liability in favor of a class of workers represented by plaintiffs/appellees, Pinnock and Patterson, for additional wages due under an employment contract which provided for the appellees to harvest sugar cane for appellant, Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Inc. (“Cooperative”). The trial court determined that the contract terms were unambiguous and required the payment of wages after the Cooperative terminated the employment. In the alternative, the trial court found that the greater weight of the credible evidence justified an interpretation of the contract favoring additional wages to the employees. Because we find that the contract terms unambiguously ended wage payments when the employees’ work opportunity terminated, we reverse.

The Cooperative hired Pinnock and Patterson as temporary foreign workers pursuant to the H-2A visa program under 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., as hand harvesters of sugar cane during the 1988-89 sugar cane season in Palm Beach County. In a prior opinion regarding other suits by the workers against various sugar cane growers, we explained the certification procedure:

The appellees are sugar cane cutters who work in the cane fields of south Florida cutting sugar cane for the appellant companies. Most, if not all, of the cane workers are foreigners, mainly from Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands. During the years in question in this suit the appellant companies employed approximately 10,000 such- foreign workers. They all entered the United States on temporary visas after the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) had certified that an insufficient supply of domestic workers was available to fill the positions.
The process of obtaining the certification of the DOL and obtaining the foreign workers is controlled by the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 49, et seq. One of the purposes of the act is to protect domestic workers from foreign workers whom employers might be able to hire for less than prevailing domestic wages. To obtain the necessary certification to import foreign workers, employers must submit “clearance orders” which are in essence job offers describing the terms and conditions of the job for which workers are sought. The clearance order must state the minimum benefits and wages that the employee will receive as well as describe the working conditions. The “orders” are actually printed forms approved by the DOL. These orders are first circulated within the domestic market of employees. Then, when the employer’s labor needs are not filled during the domestic recruitment, period, the DOL issues a certification for the importation of foreign workers. However, these foreign workers must be employed under the same terms and conditions of work as those offered in the clearance orders. When an employee is hired, an individual work contract, reflecting the terms of the clearance or[532]*532der, is provided to the worker not later than the day work commences.

Okeelanta Corp. v. Bygrave, 660 So.2d 743, 745 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995).

Negotiation of clearance orders and individual employment contracts has continued for at least twenty years prior to the 1988 contract. For the 1988-89 season, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (“FFVA”) prepared and signed the clearance order on behalf of the Cooperative, seeking certification for domestic workers through March 6, 1989, the anticipated end of the harvest. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) granted routine extensions of the certification period when the harvest required it. In 1989, the date was extended to March 10, 1989. While the DOL and FFVA agreed on the terms of the clearance order, the foreign workers never saw it. Instead, they signed individual contracts with the Cooperative. A representative of the West Indies Central Labour Organization (“WICLO”), the worker, and the Cooperative’s agent signed these contracts. According to the testimony of the workers, the contracts were signed in their home countries after the worker was evaluated and passed a physical examination.

As in past years, negotiations for the 1988 contract began in April for the harvest in November. The contract was negotiated by FFVA for companies in Florida, including the Cooperative, and by WICLO on behalf of the workers. WI-CLO is identified in the contract as “acting for and on behalf of the Governments of Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada ... (hereinafter called the “Government’s Agent”), which has been duly authorized to act for the Government on behalf of West Indies workers.” Article XVIII, paragraph 3, provides:

The worker, in consideration of the time, effort and cost incurred by his Government in providing him the employment opportunity and in negotiating the terms of the Agreement appoints West Indies Central Labour Organization as his exclusive representative to pursue and enforce any legitimate claims arising out of his employment and will submit any such claims to West Indies Central Labour Organization for resolution, including any judicial or administrative litigation that may be warranted.

Under Article XXI, WICLO agreed to represent the worker in any disputes and to furnish lawyers to the workers to pursue legitimate claims.

The contract provided the following, in pertinent part, with regard to the scope and period of employment, employment guarantee, and termination of employment:

ARTICLE I
Scope and Period of Employment
During the period from approximately the _ day of November, 1988, to approximately the 30th day of April, 1989, (unless work opportunity is sooner terminated as hereinafter provided), the Employer agrees to provide agricultural employment to the worker ...
ARTICLE IX
Employment Guarantee
1. The Employer guarantees the worker the opportunity for employment for the hourly equivalent of at least % of the work days (as defined in Article I) of the total period during which the work contract and all extensions thereof are in effect, beginning with the first workday after the worker’s arrival at the place of employment and ending on the termination date specified in this contract or its extension, if any.
(a) If the Employer affords the worker during such period less employment than required under this provision, the worker shall be paid the amount which he would have earned had he, in fact, worked the guaranteed hourly equivalent of the number of days. Where [533]*533wages are paid on an incentive basis, the worker’s average hourly earnings shall be used for the purpose of computing the amount paid under this guarantee.
ARTICLE XIV
Termination of Employment
1. Termination at other than normal expiration date:
(a) The Employer may terminate the worker’s work opportunity at any time, or

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Bluebook (online)
735 So. 2d 530, 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 6686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sugar-cane-growers-cooperative-of-florida-inc-v-pinnock-fladistctapp-1999.