The lawsuits come after a dozen Guatemalan workers filed a federal lawsuit in February accusing Imperial Nurseries in Granby and its recruiter of engaging in human trafficking by forcing them to work nearly 80 hours per week, paying them less than minimum wage and denying them medical care for injuries on the job.

The workers say they were promised jobs planting trees in North Carolina for $7.50 per hour. Instead, they say they were taken in a van to Connecticut without their consent, had their passports confiscated so they would not escape, and were threatened with arrest or deportation.

The latest lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court last week and announced Monday by the labor department, accuse Imperial and Pro-Tree Forestry of failing to properly pay the workers.

Labor officials are asking a judge to order the defendants to pay 27 workers back wages and damages and to prohibit them from violating the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.