Farsi Language TV Station on Hook for Sportscaster’s Back Pay

A Farsi language television station based in Southern California owes $180,000 in back pay and interest to an Australian man who worked as a sports reporter because the expiration of his work visa didn’t clear the company of the obligation to pay him.

The Labor Department’s issuance of a Labor Condition Application—not Majid Varess’s visa—determined the “period of authorized employment,” the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday in an opinion by Judge Lawrence VanDyke.

Varess’s claim for back wages was also timely because the failure to pay was ongoing, VanDyke said.

Varess worked for Persian Broadcast ...