June 15, 2023
Victory for farmworkers! Washington Attorney General obtains settlement over violations of civil rights
Ostrom Farms, a mushroom farm in Yakima County, Washington, must pay $3.4 million to the Washington Attorney General after a lawsuit revealed Ostrom had discriminated against its female employees and misused the H-2A visa program. Attorney General Bob Ferguson promises to use the money to pay farmworkers affected by Ostrom’s conduct.
According to a press release from the Washington Attorney General’s Office, “Ostrom fired its largely female and Washington-based workforce and replaced them” with male workers using the H-2A program. The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program allows seasonal agricultural workers to work for a specific employer, but only when employers do not have enough workers in their region who are willing, qualified, and able to work.
The Attorney General’s investigation found that, around the middle of 2021, Ostrom began firing and disciplining its female workers in the Yakima area at higher rates than its male workers. Ostrom retaliated against employees who spoke out against this workplace discrimination and, after hiring H-2A workers, refused to hire Washington residents who wanted to work for the company. The Attorney General sued Ostrom for immigration status and sex discrimination, retaliation, and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
A Washington judge ordered Ostrom to reform its workplace in order to protect employees from future misconduct. It is important to note that these laws also protect migrant farmworkers against discrimination and retaliation in the workplace, not just U.S.-born workers.
In general, it is illegal for any company to:
Misrepresent the terms and conditions of employment to current and prospective employees.
Apply different requirements to domestic workers than those hired through the H-2A program.
Discriminate by firing, not hiring, or otherwise treating workers differently because of their sex, citizenship, or immigration status.
Retaliate against employees who complain about violations of their workplace rights.
If you worked at Ostrom, you may be eligible for compensation for any unfair treatment you received. Contact the Civil Rights Division by emailing [email protected] or calling 1-833-660-4877 and selecting Option 5.
If you are wondering about your labor rights, please reach out to Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM) through its office in Mexico at (800) 590-1773 or in the United States at 1-855-234-9699. We encourage you to continue learning about the protections you have in the United States under your visa program. We also invite you to follow us on Facebook.
Read the Washington Attorney General’s press release (English).
Lee el comunicado de prensa de Fiscal General de Washington (español).
Read the Attorney General’s initial complaint (no disponible en español).
Read the court order against Windmill Farms (no disponible en español).
Visit our Contratados page on Facebook.