U.S. Labor Department reaction to allegations in Okanogan County
Washington Ag Today August 12, 2009 The Okanogan County Farm Bureau has said allegations have been made against the U.S. Department of Labor that among other things, the department’s inspectors entered private property without first obtaining permission or presenting a valid search warrant. George Friday, regional administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division says he has not received any such complaint and finds the allegations unusual. Friday: “As long as I have been in this region, I have been here for over 15 years, I have not had a complaint in agriculture especially up in that area, where we have entered the place outside of our jurisdiction or used coercion to get in.” The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is responsible for administering and enforcing a number of federal laws which set basic labor standards, including the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. And Friday says inspectors don’t need a warrant to enter a work site. Friday: “Under the provisions under of the Fair Labor Standards Act, under Section 11, it gives the Secretary the authority to enter and inspect records at any time and of course that authority is delegated down to the agency and the investigators who go out and make these investigations.” Friday says investigations are carried out for a number of reasons, one of which could be a complaint, and that information is typically not disclosed. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
