Mexican workers sue Washington fruit company over wages

YAKIMA — Nine farmworkers recruited from Mexico last year by a Selah fruit company have filed suit in federal court, claiming the company failed to disclose tougher work requirements in their employment contract, which lowered their wages below federal minimums.

Northwest Justice Project of Yakima, a nonprofit legal-aid group, and a Seattle law firm filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Yakima against Zirkle Fruit Co. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of workers hired under the federal H-2A program.

Under the program, employers must pay a wage determined for each state by the U.S. Department of Labor. Last year, that rate for Washington was $9.77 an hour, up 76 cents from the 2006 wage of $9.01.

To off-set that 76-cent increase in the 2007 wage, the lawsuit claims Zirkle Fruit boosted the productivity requirement.

For example, in 2006, a worker picking Fuji apples was required to pick enough fruit at the rate of $18 a bin to meet the required wage of $9.01 an hour. That worked out to one bin every 1.99 hours, the lawsuit states. But the next year, Zirkle Fruit required one bin of Fujis every 1.84 hours, a nine-minute speed up.

"Zirkle's failure to disclose to (the Department of Labor) that its 2007 production standards were higher ... was a significant nondisclosure," the lawsuit states.

The company's lawyer, Brendan Monahan, said Zirkle is confident it followed federal requirements.

He added that the two sides are working to settle the dispute.

This story, originally published on Jan. 31, was corrected on Feb. 16. The original version of the story incorrectly calculated the alleged speed-up in production required of farm workers. The alleged speed-up in apple picking was 9 minutes per bin.