“More than just an added nuisance, the new requirement for farms to post public notice of routine seasonal layoffs has created yet another threat to the survival of already-struggling farms here in Washington state. This ill-conceived law is due to the passage of SB 5525, which was sponsored by Senator Cleveland, passed the legislature along exclusively party lines, and signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
“Farming since time immemorial has been seasonal, and generations of farmers and farmworkers have structured their lives and communities around the natural ebb and flow of planting and harvest seasons. There is absolutely nothing new about many seasonal farm jobs ending when harvest wraps up, or when other busy seasons come to a close. This seems to highlight how out of touch many of our politicians and bureaucrats are when it comes to understanding how agriculture works. Farming is not the static year round nine to five operation that many urban lawmakers apparently assume that it is.
“Not only does this ridiculous new requirement add even more paperwork for family farms suffocating under the weight of government regulations, it creates another opportunity for state fines, lawsuits from profiteering lawyers, false accusations from anti-farm activists and bad press against farms, over nothing more than minor paperwork errors.
“News outlets across the state have already reported on some ‘mass layoffs,’ mistakenly giving the false impression of impending doom for certain WA farm businesses, as a result of this wrongheaded new law. Now, not surprisingly, money-hungry attorneys are reaching out to farmworkers scheduled to be laid off, searching for any error they can exploit to sue farms, even though the workers have always known the work was seasonal and expected their job to end when harvest was over.
“Why were construction employers exempted from this silly requirement, when farms were not? Why did lawmakers ignore the farming community’s plea to be left alone by this burdensome, unnecessary legal structure designed for entirely different types of employment?
“The new ‘Mini-WARN’ law here in Washington doesn’t benefit workers, and puts farms in the crosshairs of unfair state fines, spurious lawsuits from profiteering lawyers, and bad press fueled by anti-farm activists. This new law is a loss for farmworkers and family farmers, and a win for overbearing big government, the litigation industry, and anti-farm activists.”