KENNEWICK — A Kennewick contractor has been fined a quarter of a million dollars for mistreatment of farmworkers.
Kennewick-based farm labor contractor Harvest Plus LLC housed farmworkers in unhealthy living conditions, transported them in unsafe vehicles and violated other H-2A guest worker program requirements, found an investigation by the Department of Labor.
The department announced this week that Harvest Plus will not be allowed to participate in the H-2A program for three years and fined the organization $252,475.
The contractor provided agricultural labor to as many as four growers in Benton and Yakima counties since 2022.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division completed an investigation into Harvest Plus from April 2022 to July 2023.
Violations include:
- Housing H-2A workers in unsafe, overcrowded conditions in moldy motel rooms
- Failing to reimburse H-2A workers for inbound and outbound transportation costs between their home country and Washington
- Allowing drivers without permits or licenses to transport workers in dangerous, dilapidated vehicles with broken or missing seatbelts, lights and inadequate seats
- Making unlawful pay deductions not stated in job orders, including for laundry expenses
- Failing to provide a copy of work contracts and did not state job orders’ actual terms and conditions
- Giving preference when contracting H-2A workers and failed to contact U.S. workers employed previously
Farmworkers were housed at the Yakima Housing Authority in Granger, the Rodeway Inn in Yakima and the OYO Hotel in Hermiston, Oregon.
The Rodeway Inn and OYO Hotel both violated H-2A housing requirements. Mold was found at the OYO Hotel.
Harvest Plus also tried to require workers to work beyond the H-2A certification periods and outside the period of employment allowed.
Investigations can be prompted by a complaint from a worker, third-party complaints or through the Department of Labor’s regular industry surveys.
Department officials told the Herald that they were not able to disclose the complainant in this specific investigation due to privacy concerns.
H-2A employers are required to provide housing for their H-2A workers — either on-farm housing owned by the farm and located on site, or off-farm housing, which they rent out for workers — and must document the housing before hiring.
