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CASTRO VALLEY -- A small-time vintner's use of volunteer workers has put him out of business after the state squeezed him like a late-summer grape for $115,000 in fines -- and sent a chill through the wine industry.

The volunteers, some of them learning to make wine while helping out, were illegally unpaid laborers, and Westover Winery should have been paying them and paying worker taxes, the state Department of Industrial Relations said.

"I didn't know it was illegal to use volunteers at a winery; it's a common practice," said winery owner Bill Smyth.

State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers.

Before the fine, volunteer labor was common at wineries in the nearby Livermore Valley, said Fenestra Winery owner Lanny Replogle.

Jill Smyth applies labels to bottles of port wine while winery workers Dan Hoover, left, and Ken Tatum take a break from filling orders at the
Jill Smyth applies labels to bottles of port wine while winery workers Dan Hoover, left, and Ken Tatum take a break from filling orders at the going-out-of-business sale at Westover Winery in Castro Valley, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. After being fined $130,000 for using volunteer workers, owner Jim Smyth is closing up shop by Dec. 24. (Jim Stevens/Bay Area News Group) ( JIM STEVENS )
"But not anymore," he said Monday. When word got around, several wineries sent their volunteers home.

Westover was cited in July for not paying minimum wage, not providing wage statements and not paying workers' compensation insurance, said Peter Melton, a spokesman for the state.

http://www.mercurynews.com/my-town/ci_26541167/castro-valley-winery-fined-115-000-using-volunteers