Labor Lawsuit

Cherry pickers at a Central Washington farm have filed a lawsuit over wages alleging the farm owner changed wages on them without notice. The Ag Networks' KayDee Gilkey has more on this.

GILKEY: Seventy workers at Upland Vineyards say they were offered $3.25 per bucket of cherries picked during the 2014 harvest season. Then without warning the workers claim their pay decreased and they weren't given rest breaks. When workers protested the change they allege they were fired and run off the property. A state ruling says that all workers must be paid for rest breaks. A lawyer for Upland says quote, "We think the complaint is superficial and demonstrably false in a number of respects."

The lawsuit also alleges that the workers were not given rest breaks in 2014 and the preceding two seasons. The case was filed in U.S. District Court. A recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court that employers must pay piece rate workers for rest periods "separate and apart from the piece rate."  Farm workers paid by the task are entitled to rest-break pay above the negotiated piece rate.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.