(The Center Square) – The owners of two Yakima orchards have recently paid more than $500,000 to the Department of Labor & Industries, settling a years-long lawsuit brought by the state Attorney General’s Ofice.
The case was brought forward after complaints were made to L&I against G&G Orchards Inc. and RC Orchards LLC, both of which are businesses owned by Rene and Carmen Garcia.
The investigation concluded that the workers weren’t properly compensated for fruit they harvested between over the three years from 2018 to 2021.
“It is important to hold employers accountable for paying workers what they are owed,” said L&I Director Joel Sacks in a news release announcing the settlement. “Employers make a commitment to pay for a worker’s time and labor, and this payment reflects a lot of hard work to make sure that promise was kept.”
Their contract specified either a per-pick rate for fruit, or an hourly rate, whichever was higher. They were also to be compensated for time spent waiting for machinery failures to be repaired.
More than 400 workers were owed these back wages and interest, which is where the settlement money is going.
“Farmworkers do backbreaking work, and they deserve to be paid every dollar they earn,” said Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a news release. “We will continue to stand up for farmworkers, and fight to ensure that all workers are paid every dollar they are owed, including interest on the wages they were denied.”
Despite the Garcias providing the last known addresses and phone numbers of all employees from 2018 to 2021, some of those workers may be hard to track down as many of them were foreign nationals.
“We will make extensive efforts to contact the employees,” Sacks said.
In addition to the monies, the settlement is requiring the Garcias to:
Provide a detailed payroll report from 2022, as well as time sheets for packing, harvesting, and bus driving workers. The Garcias have already sent these to the agency, which is reviewing the records to determine whether those workers are owed any additional back wages.Conduct self-audits, prepared by a third party, every six months through the end of 2024. They must submit a report to L&I showing compliance with the law.Immediately change record-keeping practices so documents include all hours worked for all employees. This includes accurate pay statements to employees reflecting daily piece-rate earnings, and required meal and rest breaks.
This settlement comes just years after another lawsuit filed against the Garcias by the Seattle-based Northwest Justice Project on behalf of seven H-2A workers for back wages.
Those workers eventually received $240,000 in back wages, interest, and damages.
