Second Calif. farm labor contractor shut down over heat laws

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9588080

The Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/14/2008 03:15:20 PM PDT

GALT, Calif.—The state has shut down a second farm contractor for not complying with heat regulations for its workers.

The California Department of Industrial Relations ordered Galt-based Solis Farm Labor Contractor to stop operating in the fields Friday. The order came a day after the department shut down Merced Farm Labor, who had a 17-year-old employee die last month of heat-related causes.

Officials say Solis laborers were working in the same fields as Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez when she collapsed in the San Joaquin Valley vineyard on May 14. The company also has received prior citations, including one for failing to provide heat illness prevention training to its employees.

The department says it's in the midst of conducting undercover sweeps of many farm labor contractors following the death.