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Farms where mass shooting killed workers must pay more than $450,000 in back wages and damages

A cluster of mobile homes is seen at the California Terra Garden, formerly Mountain Mushroom Farm, in Half Moon Bay, Calif., last year. Two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, where seven people were killed in a mass shooting, owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages to workers, and charged many of them to illegally live in trailers …

Workers sue mushroom farm over 2023 mass shooting that left seven dead

A Half Moon Bay mushroom farm failed to protect the workers living there from a gunman who targeted them in 2023, resulting in a deadly mass shooting, according to a pair of lawsuits filed against the employer. Prosecutors have charged Chunli Zhao, 67, in the deaths of seven people who were fatally shot at California Terra Garden and Concord Farm, …

Workers

Half Moon Bay farmworkers processing shooting as jobs resume

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — Barely a week after their colleagues were fatally shot, workers were back picking mushrooms at a farm in northern California. “We all feel like we need each other; we feel like the people at the farm are the ones who really understand you right now,” said one worker at the farm in Half Moon Bay …

‘I want to be heard’: Half Moon Bay farmworkers struggle in ‘deplorable’ conditions

It’s not news to Bernardina Medrano and Margarita Martinez that many migrant farmworkers along the San Mateo County coast live in “deplorable” conditions, as Gov. “Like it’s all about to fall.” On Friday night, hundreds gathered at Mac Dutra Park in Half Moon Bay for a memorial service for the shooting victims. Both received applause, and the hundreds of attendees …

Chunli Zhao appears at an arraignment in San Mateo Superior Court in Redwood City, Calif., on Wednesday. “California is investigating the farms involved in the Half Moon Bay shooting to ensure workers are treated fairly and with the compassion they deserve.” California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the labor commissioner’s office confirmed they’re investigating the two Half Moon …