Department of Labor fines Washington grower $74K for H-2A violations

Sunnyside, Wash.-based mushroom grower Ostrom Mushroom Farms was recently fined $74,000 in civil penalties for H-2A worker program violations by the Department of Labor, which cited the farm with not paying workers the required H-2A wage rate and for failing to meet basic housing and food requirements.

The Department of Labor was able to recover $59,000 in back wages for workers from the employer, according to a news release.

Ostrom Mushroom Farms operates on 43 acres in Washington’s Yakima Valley region, which includes mushroom growing faculties and a packaging facility. The employer supplies produce from Washington, Oregon and Hawaii to grocers such as Safeway, Kroger and Trader Joe’s, along with food processors such as Food Services of America, according to the Department of Labor.

“Employers participating in the H-2A guest worker program must make sure that they provide housing as required, that housing is sanitary, that vehicles used to transport workers are safe and that workers are paid correctly for all hours they work,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Silva said in the release. “Our nation depends on agricultural industry workers to feed our families, and we are committed to making certain industry employers fulfill their legal responsibilities.”

Investigation findings from the DOL 

The federal agency’s Wage and Hour Division investigation determined that Ostom Mushroom Farms failed to pay farmworkers the required wage rate and did not provide cooking facilities or three meals per day, all requirements for the H-2A temporary agriculture program.

“Workers arriving at the place of employment discovered housing listed in the job order was not available and the employer placed the workers in a hotel temporarily,” according to the investigation report.

Related news: Grower group expresses alarm over new H-2A wage rule

During worker’s hotel stay, they had no access to cooking facilities and the Ostrom Mushroom Farm failed to provide meals, forcing workers to incur expenses to obtain meals daily, the report continued.

“The division assessed $70,348 in civil money penalties on a per-worker basis due to the violations’ seriousness,” the report said.

What’s more, Ostrom Mushroom Farms also failed to keep accurate records, present pay stubs with key information and inspect housing before occupancy. According to the Department of Labor report, the farm also paid a recruiter nearly $10,000 for their visa, an unlawful cost-shift that resulted in additional civil penalties.

Earlier this year, Ostrom Mushroom Farm settled a $3.4 million civil rights lawsuit for what was described as “unfair, deceptive and discriminatory actions against female farmworkers and Washington-based workers” According to the Washington attorney general’s office, the employer replaced female workers with temporary H-2A male workers.

Ostrom Mushroom Farms had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication.