Farm labor contractor Global Horizons Inc. must pay approximately $7.7 million for subjecting Thai farmworkers in the state of Washington to a hostile work environment, harassment and discrimination in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Monday.

The Thai farmworkers suffered from “fear, anxiety, anger, intimidation, humilitation, shame and … an unrelenting sense of imprisonment,” Senior US District Court Judge Edward Shea found, according to the EEOC.

As part of the damages, Shea ordered an enhanced award of $2,500 to each Thai farmworker detained by police because Global Horizons confiscated his or her passport, according to the EEOC. The judge also awarded additional punitive damages of $16,000 per month to a Thai farmworker struck on the head with a cane by a Global Horizons supervisor while trying to get the person to work faster.

The case was initially filed against Global Horizons in April 2011.

In a separate, companion case in 2014 involving five Hawaiian farms and Global Horizons, US District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi awarded EEOC a default judgment of $12.3 million in damages for 82 claimants against Global Horizons and Maui Pineapple Company, according to the EEOC.

“EEOC continues its mission of vindicating the rights of the most vulnerable workers who are directly targeted for exploitation based on stereotypes about their race and national origin that they won't dare complain," said Anna Park, regional attorney for EEOC’s Los Angeles District. “The court’s findings in this case will empower workers who think they have no voice.”