Dozens of Washington farmworkers to benefit from $1 million settlement with Toppenish-based Cornerstone

More than 50 farmworkers will receive compensation from a $1 million settlement with Toppenish-based apple and hops grower Cornerstone Ranches and its affiliates through a consent decree with the state of Washington.

The consent decree resolves a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) in June alleging that Cornerstone fired local workers after holding them to unfair productivity standards and other requirements not similarly applied to H-2A workers, laid off local workers while H-2A employees continued to work, and regularly reduced local workers' hours and schedules. Many of the workers who were displaced were female, while all of the H-2A workers Cornerstone hired were male. Cornerstone denied all of the allegations.

The federal H-2A program is meant to address temporary labor shortages by allowing employers to hire seasonal agricultural workers from other countries. To be eligible for the H-2A program, employers must certify that there is a shortage of U.S.-based workers who are willing, qualified, and able to work. As part of the program, employers must offer local workers the same benefits, wages, guarantee of hours, and working conditions offered to foreign H-2A workers, which the AGO alleged Cornerstone failed to do.

In addition to financial compensation for dozens of local farmworkers who lost their jobs or had their hours cut, the consent decree sets particularly strong requirements for Cornerstone regarding its operations and hiring practices. Cornerstone will be barred from applying piece-based productivity standards to local farmworkers for any year it also hires H-2A workers. This term is crucial because local farmworkers told the AGO that they were required to prune 100 apple trees per day and received warnings or were fired if they failed to meet that benchmark, but that H-2A workers were not held to the same standard.

"It's a good day when you can return money to farmworkers who suffered discrimination and unfair treatment," Attorney General Nick Brown said. "I'm grateful to our team for negotiating a strong settlement that will set a standard for future enforcement in similar cases."

The AGO is still identifying people who are eligible for payments under the agreement, so the amount of compensation per person is not yet determined.

Northwest Justice Project, which provides civil legal assistance to low-income people in Washington, initially referred the matter to the AGO. The organization, along with counsel from Sunlight Law, represented a subset of workers included in this global settlement.

"This consent decree and settlement send a clear message that Washington's local farmworkers cannot be pushed aside, misled about job opportunities, or subjected to harsher standards simply because employers prefer to hire temporary foreign workers," said David Morales, managing attorney of the Farmworker Unit, Northwest Justice Project. "We're proud to have stood with these workers in demanding accountability and real change."

"We greatly appreciate the partnership with the Attorney General's office and continue to rely on their diligence in ensuring compliance with the consent decree by Cornerstone Farm Management," said Abigail Daquiz, executive director of Northwest Justice Project.

Holding employers accountable

Earlier this month, another Toppenish-based farm, Shinn & Son, agreed to pay $300,000 and reform its hiring and training practices to resolve similar allegations that the farm discriminated against local farmworkers and women while misleading jobseekers. In April, the AGO reached a $180,000 agreement with King Fuji Ranch in Richland to resolve allegations the farm had unlawfully replaced local farmworkers with H-2A workers. And in 2023, a $3.4 million settlement with Sunnyside-based Ostrom Mushroom Farms resulted in compensation for more than 200 farmworkers following allegations of similar abuses of the H-2A visa program.

The consent decree with Cornerstone will be in place for three years and will be extended to five years if the company fails to comply with its terms. In addition to those above, the consent decree requires Cornerstone to:

• Recruit all former employees since 2022 for open positions
• Onboard qualified applicants within two days
• Call back all individuals who apply or seek work
• Adopt and implement a nondiscrimination policy, complaint procedures, complaint investigation procedures, and workplace training
• Submit reports to the AGO about compliance.

A copy of the consent decree is available here.

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The Wing Luke Civil Rights Division works to protect the rights of all Washington residents by enforcing state and federal anti-discrimination laws. It is named for Wing Luke, who served as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Washington in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He went on to become the first person of color elected to the Seattle City Council and the first Asian American elected to public office in the Pacific Northwest.

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