State hands out historically large fines after two WA farm workers die from COVID
Dec 24, 2020, 12:13 PM
(Photo by Tim Matsui/Liaison)
(Photo by Tim Matsui/Liaison)
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries doled out one of the largest total fines related to worker safety in the state’s history this week, following the death of two Central Washington farm workers.
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Two employees of Gebbers Farm Operations died after contracting COVID-19, having reportedly caught the virus in a work environment that L&I said had intentionally flouted safety rules.
“Gebbers made it very apparent to investigators they had no intention of following the rules as written regarding temporary agricultural worker housing and transportation,” L&I Director Joel Sacks said in a news release.
An investigation was first opened in mid-July after workers anonymously reported poor conditions to L&I. One caller informed the state that one employee had died from COVID-19, and that “the workers who shared the same cabin with the deceased were not tested for the virus.”
A second caller said he feared that hundreds of workers at his camp have COVID-19, including himself, and he worried he would die. He went on to claim that the farm’s owners “did nothing to help the sick and just left them in their cabins to die.”
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L&I investigators later confirmed that a 37-year-old temporary worker from Mexico had indeed died on July 8, and that the death had not been reported — as is required by law– to the state. On July 31, a 63-year-old worker from Jamaica also died on the job. It was later determined that COVID-19 was the cause of both deaths.
At the conclusion of its investigation, L&I identified 24 “egregious willful” safety violations, including 12 for unsafe sleeping arrangements and another 12 for unsafe worker transportation. With each violation incurring a $84,000 penalty, Gebbers was fined a total of over $2 million.
The farm has been given 15 days to appeal the fines imposed by L&I. If it’s unsuccessful in that effort, or it decides not to appeal, the money from those fines will go to their workers’ compensation pension fund.
