Hot Goods Seminar

If you are an orchardist, berry or vegetable producers who uses seasonal labor the Washington Farm Bureau is hosting a seminar on the topic of hot goods and how to avoid the mess. Rick Gastelum with WSFB has more.

GASTELUM: DOL has done some pretty heavy inspections in Skagit County, southwest Washington and we'll call it the northwest area of Oregon, north central area of Oregon over the last couple of years. Word out from some people that are staying in tune with this issue is that there was a settlement reached with an employer last year - sounds like they sort of smell blood now and they're going to be ramping up and really focusing in on growers in Central Washington

Gastelum explains "hot goods."

GASTELUM: They call it hot goods but what it really is is them investigating or checking for compliance on wage and hour labor related issues against the federal standards so did you pay your employees appropriately, did you pay them the minimum wage, when they were on a break was it supposed to be a paid break or a non-paid break.

The seminar will be April 20th with a morning session in Wenatchee then moving to Yakima during the afternoon.

GASTELUM: When they come knocking they really impose their will on people and if people are not prepared it can lead to quite a nightmare for a lot of folks, not only financially but public image-wise.

Registration is required and is free to all WSFB members.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.