Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a national origin discrimination lawsuit against its Hawaii subsidiary in hiring Thai farm workers through a contracting firm.

The case originated in April 2011, when the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Los Angeles-based Global Horizons Inc., in which it accused the contracting firm of engaging in a pattern or practice of national origin and race discrimination, harassment and retaliation when it trafficked more than 200 male Thai workers to farms in Hawaii and Washington, where they allegedly were subjected to mistreatment and discrimination.

Six farms, including the Hawaii subsidiary of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Fresh Del Monte, also were named in that suit.

The EEOC said the Hawaii subsidiary contracted with Global Horizons for about three years, ending in 2005, to tend pineapple fields it leased on the island of Oahu. Global Horizons hired the laborers, trained and supervised them and allegedly mistreated them, the EEOC said.

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Under terms of the settlement announced Monday, Del Monte has agreed to institute comprehensive protocols and accountability measures to ensure that all of its farm labor contractors comply with federal laws against discrimination and retaliation, the EEOC said in a statement.

“This is the first effort of its kind for a farm to ensure farm labor contractor accountability for federal anti-discrimination laws,” the EEOC said in a statement.

The EEOC commends the company “for taking a bold step to holding farm labor contractors accountable and to show its commitment to ensuring farm workers are treated with dignity and protected under federal anti-discrimination laws,” Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles district office, said in the statement. “We hope this is wake-up call for others in the agricultural industry … in recognizing signs of potential abuses by farm labor contractors and taking proactive steps to hold them accountable."

A Fresh Del Monte spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The EEOC held a public hearing on national origin discrimination last week, and is expected to revise its 11-year-old guidance on the issue. Observers say one of the agency's concerns is human trafficking for employment purposes.