09.01.2026 / Press releases /

Employment Appeal Tribunal Allows Challenge to Strict Time Limits in Seasonal Migrant Workers’ Exploitation Claims 

Employment Appeal Tribunal Allows Challenge to Strict Time Limits in Seasonal Migrant Workers’ Exploitation Claims 

• Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed the appeal brought by Latin American seasonal farm workers to proceed. This appeal was brought with the support of United Voices of the World (UVW) after their case was struck out for missing a tribunal deadline. 
  
• Haygrove Ltd, one of the UK’s largest berry producers, accused of conditions resembling modern slavery, including underpayment, broken promises of work, spiralling debt and racial discrimination. 
  
• Haygrove now has 28 days to respond to the accepted appeal. 
  
• Case highlights how rigid tribunal time limits and the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme systematically deny migrant workers access to justice. 

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has accepted an appeal brought by a group of Latin American seasonal farm workers, supported by United Voices of the World (UVW), whose claims against Haygrove Ltd were previously dismissed for missing the strict three-month tribunal deadline. 

The claimants were recruited in Chile under the UK government’s Seasonal Worker Visa scheme and brought claims alleging serious mistreatment and exploitation, including unpaid wages, fewer hours than promised, mounting debt from rent and living costs, and racially discriminatory treatment by supervisors. They argue these conditions amount to modern slavery. 

Despite the tribunal having the legal power to extend time limits where it is “just and equitable”, the Employment Tribunal refused to hear their case. This decision was made even though the workers were homeless, undocumented, without income and traumatised after fleeing the farm, following the cancellation of their visas. 

Supported by UVW, the workers argue that it is unjust and irrational to expect undocumented migrant workers in crisis — abandoned by their employer under a state-backed visa scheme — to navigate complex legal systems. They say the law, as applied, protects exploitative employers while denying migrant workers meaningful access to justice. 

The case exposes the structural injustice faced by workers on the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme, who are legally tied to a single employer and prohibited from seeking alternative work even when their rights are violated — a system campaigners say mirrors conditions of servitude. 

As reported in the media, this case follows the experience of Julia Quecaño Casimiro, a 23-year-old seasonal worker from Bolivia, who was employed by Haygrove Ltd. She arrived in the UK in July 2023 and was among a group of nearly 90 workers who were widely reported to have taken part in wildcat strike action, citing concerns about unmet expectations, working conditions and treatment at the farm. 

The claimants are part of 88 Latin American workers who organised the UK’s first-ever wild cat strike by seasonal migrant workers on visas in 2023, protesting wage theft, discrimination, harassment and unsafe working conditions at Haygrove Farms in Herefordshire. 

Aida Luna Silvestre, seasonal worker and claimant, said: 

“It has been a long wait, but we must keep fighting until the system changes. I have lived this experience first-hand as a worker, and we cannot remain silent – if we do, this system will continue unchanged. The temporary worker visa program needs more opportunities, including the right for workers to switch employers so that those being exploited can seek better conditions. Workers should also have access to unions to learn and protect their rights. The reality of modern slavery is often ignored. People do not see the main issue: how workers are treated on farms and what rights they are entitled to. Many are misled by the advertisements of large farms that promise good treatment and medical access, but this is far from the truth. Most people here simply do not know what workers endure.”

Petros Elia, UVW General Secretary, said: 
 
“This case exposes a brutal truth: migrant seasonal workers are not just exploited by individual employers like Haygrove, but by a system deliberately designed to make exploitation possible and unaccountable. When workers are tied to a single employer, plunged into debt, stripped of income and immigration status, and then denied justice because they miss an arbitrary deadline while homeless and traumatised, that is not an accident — it is how the system works. These workers fed the country under conditions that resemble modern slavery, and when they tried to speak up, the law slammed the door in their faces. This fight is not only against one employer, but against a visa regime and tribunal system that protects profit, depends on migrant labour, and treats migrant workers as disposable. We will not allow justice to be denied simply because exploitation is hidden behind bureaucracy.”

For further information, contact the UVW communications team: 

Cristina: 07548 759340 
Isabel: 07706 987443 
Email: comms@uvwunion.org.uk 

Image credit: UVW

Previous coverage: 

· UVW stands in solidarity with courageous fruit pickers fighting for justice 
· No English, no union, no fear: Julia’s story 
· UVW union launches legal action against UK fruit farm over exploitation of seasonal Latin American workers 

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