UFW Condemns Firing of Doroteo Jimenez
BAKERSFIELD – The United Farm Workers is condemning the action by farm labor contractor California Gold, its owner Juan Chavez and West Coast Grape Farming Inc. in the firing Thursday evening of Doroteo Jimenez.
Jimenez, whose 17-year-old niece Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died while working in a Stockton-area vineyard owned by West Coast Grape on May 16 from heat stroke, was fired for supposedly missing a safety training held Wednesday, June 18. It was the same day a wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf on Maria Isabel’s mother. Jimenez attended a press conference which followed the filing of the lawsuit in Merced Superior Court.
Jimenez had asked for and been given permission to take the day off. He was never informed there would be a mandatory safety training that day.
Jimenez was informed at the end of his shift on Thursday by Juan Chavez that those who missed the training would not be allowed to work. Jimenez was also told he should look for other employment.
Upon being terminated Jimenez was not given his final pay check – as required by law. As of today, he still had not been paid.
“Here we have a worker who is attempting to help his family deal with the death of his teenaged niece by being the family representative. He did everything properly; he asked for permission and was granted the time off. Yet when he returns to work he is told he is no longer employed. It seems too much of a coincidence this alleged training occurred the same day as the filing of the wrongful death lawsuit in which West Coast Grape is named,” said Armando Elenes, UFW external organizing director.
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