Yakima orchard owners pay $500,000 in back wages to 400+ workers to settle lawsuit

Joanna Hou
·2 min read

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of the story and headline included the wrong amount of back wages.

A years-long state lawsuit against owners of two Yakima orchards has concluded after Rene and Carmen Garcia paid $500,000 in back wages to more than 400 workers.

The couple owns G&G Orchards Inc. and RC Orchards LLC. The Washington state Department of Labor & Industries found that between 2018 and 2021, workers were not paid properly for the fruit they harvested. They were also required to stay on site while machines were repaired.

According to a news release from L&I, the Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit in Yakima County Superior Court after the couple “rebuffed extensive efforts to reach a settlement.” The investigation ultimately found the companies owed workers about $408,000 in wages and interest, and an additional $42,000 for machinery breakdown time.

In September 2021, the Garcias told the Yakima Herald-Republic they were proud of how they treated their workers, and that the lawsuit against them was discriminatory.

“It’s hard being a small business, and then being Hispanic makes it that much harder, especially when we feel targeted and bullied by your office,” Carmen Garcia wrote in a letter to the Attorney General’s Office. “I feel like we’re being forced to pay for something we don’t owe just because we’re Hispanic.”

But it was not the first time the two orchards had come under fire for labor abuses. Northwest Justice Project filed a separate lawsuit for back wages in 2020 on behalf of seven H-2A workers who worked under the Garcias. They eventually received $240,000 in wages and damages.

Under the new settlement, the Garcias will be required to notify their employees about their entitlements. L&I will also require them to conduct audits, provide a detailed payroll report from 2022, and change record-keeping practices to better reflect the hours worked by employees.

In the news release, L&I Director Joel Sacks said the department will do its best to reach foreign workers who would benefit from 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,” Sacks said in the news release.