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Farm workers' lawsuit names Zirkle fruit
Nine farm workers recruited from Mexico last year by Zirkle Fruit are
alleging in federal court in Yakima that the Selah-based tree-fruit
company failed to disclose tougher work requirements in their employment
contract, which lowered their wages below federal guest-worker
requirements.
Northwest Justice Project of Yakima, a nonprofit legal-aid group, and a
Seattle law firm filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court on
behalf of the workers hired under the federal H-2A program. The program
allows agricultural employers to hire temporary foreign workers if they
can show a shortage of U.S. workers.
Zirkle Fruit hired about 600 H-2A workers for the 2007 season.
The workers also allege that Zirkle Fruit failed to reimburse them fully
for travel and visa costs associated with their recruitment and
wrongfully fired them after only about a month of work for failing to
meet the productivity standards.
The company's lawyer, Brendan Monahan, said Zirkle is confident it
followed Department of Labor requirements.
"Zirkle Fruit invested an extraordinary amount of time and resources to
make sure it complies with every facet of the H-2A program," Monahan
said.
He added that the two sides are working to settle the dispute. "I'm
confident we're going to be able to resolve the issues in a way that's
fair to both sides."
Matthew Geyman, the Seattle lawyer who is co-counsel with Northwest
Justice, also said he is "optimistic" about a resolution without a jury
trial.
Under H-2A, employers must pay a wage determined for each state by the
U.S. Department of Labor. Last year, that rate was $9.77 an hour, up 76
cents from the 2006 wage of $9.01. If the employer uses a piece rate,
those rates are to be in line with the "normal" productivity
requirements of a region.
To offset that 76-cent increase in the 2007 wage, the lawsuit says
Zirkle Fruit boosted the productivity requirement. For example, in 2006,
a worker picking Fuji apples was required to pick enough fruit at the
piece rate of $18 a bin to meet the required wage of $9.01 an hour. That
worked out to one bin every 1.99 hours, the lawsuit states.
But the next year, Zirkle Fruit required one bin of Fujis every 1.84
hours, a 15-minute speed-up.
"Zirkle's failure to disclose to (the Department of Labor) that its 2007
production standards were higher ... was a significant nondisclosure,"
the lawsuit states.
The six-count lawsuit alleges that Zirkle Fruit violated the federal
Fair Labor Standards Act, Washington state wage law and the state Farm
Labor Contractor Act. They also accuse Zirkle Fruit of breach of
contract, making fraudulent misrepresentations and wrongfully firing
workers.
The workers seek unspecified damages, unpaid wages and other costs
related to litigation.
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