​A November 5, 2020 a ruling by five of the nine justices overturned a 61 year old state law that told farmers how to pay their employees. That opened the door wide to class action lawyers. Lawyers from as far away as Los Angeles jumped at the opportunity the court provided and now over 30 lawsuits have been filed against farmers. More are coming all the time. The lawyers are demanding three years back pay to employees. It doesn’t matter to them that farmers were following the law and did nothing wrong nor that farmworkers were well and fairly paid.

Even worse, now Senator Saldaña is demanding that all farmers pay three years back pay--and with penalties. It is terribly unjust to change the law and then punish people for following the law because it was suddenly changed. If a speed limit changed, should you be fined for each time you violated the new limit in the past? This unfair demand would destroy farms and the thousands of jobs that depend on them.

Does Senator Saldaña know the harm her actions would cause? Yes, because she heard from over 550 farmworkers, farmers and supporters who told her clearly in a senate hearing that their farms and jobs would be lost. (Watch the video here.)

This problem is all based on the judges’ wrong opinions. These ideas appear to be shared by Senator Saldaña and lawmakers who support her.
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Three judges signed an opinion that shows how far their understanding of farmworkers is from reality. Their opinion demonstrates remarkable ignorance of the facts, but much worse, it shows a great disregard for the dignity and pride of these hard working and productive people.

Read the detailed FACT CHECK, then download it and share it with all who care about farmworkers, their jobs and the farms where they work.

One very disturbing result of the state Supreme Court decision is the flood of litigation launched against Washington's family dairy farmers claiming that now these farmers owe three years back pay to their employees. This, despite the fact that farmers have been following the law on employee pay for years, and that if successful, these actions will mean the end of almost all but the very largest farms in Washington state.

Eager lawyers jumped on the opening left by the Supreme Court decision and have filed suits against over 20 farms. They claim that farmers now owe workers three years back pay. When farmers have been faithfully following a longstanding state law in paying workers, how can it be fair they are now penalized for following the law? If these lawsuits succeed through court action or settlements, we will see a rapid loss of most of our family farms with only the largest, most efficient farms able to survive.

Please read the detailed explanation, download it and pass it on.