L&I fines Othello company $105,000

TUMWATER — Agri Aide Inc., a company based out of Othello, was recently fined $105,000 by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for violating conditions that are required in the hiring of farm workers.

Agri Aide is one of about 250 firms in Washington that hires, organizes and transports workers to farms. State law dictates that contractors are required to give a worker written notice about pay, housing, safety requirements and other conditions.

"Often, these workers are happy just to have a job; they're not looking at whether the person who got them the job has a license," Tisa Soeteber, agricultural employment specialist at L&I, said. "L&I is going after repeat offenders like Agri Aide to stop unlicensed contractors from both competing with legitimate farm labor contractors and putting workers at risk."

Agri Aide’s owners reportedly operated their company without a farm labor contracting license in 2012, 2013 and 2015. The business received maximum fines for each of the cases, which also included forging a contractor license in 2012 and not telling workers about the conditions of their employment in 2015.

L&I started investigating Agri Aide back in back after receiving a complaint, which involved Agri Aide workers at a farm in Quincy. Information from L&I indicates the business hadn’t checked the Agri Aide license since 2006. The farm advised L&I they would no longer work with unlicensed contractors. Soeteber encouraged farmers to annually check the license of their farm labor contractor.

Agri Aide did not appeal their fine by the Oct. 6 deadline and has already pledged $2,000 toward their violation. Agri Aide could not be reached for comment.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.