Washington farm labor laws can be found in Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §§ 19.30.010 through 19.30.902, Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §§ 43.185.010 through 43.185.911, Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §§ 49.30.005 through 49.30.901, Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §§ 49.70.115 through 49.70.119, Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §§ 70.114.010 through 70.114A.901, WAC §§ 16-233-120 through 16-233-155, WAC §§ 296-131-001 through 296-131-140 and WAC §§ 296-307-003 through 296-310-270.

Pursuant to Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 19.30.045, any person, having a claim for wages pursuant to this chapter may bring suit upon the surety bond or security deposit filed by the contractor pursuant to RCW 19.30.040, in any court of competent jurisdiction of the county in which the claim arose, or in which either the claimant or contractor resides.  The right of action is assignable in the name of the director or any other person.

No person acting as a farm labor contractor shall:

(1) Make any misrepresentation or false statement in an application for a license.

(2) Make or cause to be made, to any person, any false, fraudulent, or misleading representation, or publish or circulate or cause to be published or circulated any false, fraudulent, or misleading information concerning the terms or conditions or existence of employment at any place or places, or by any person or persons, or of any individual or individuals.

(3) Send or transport any worker to any place where the farm labor contractor knows a strike or lockout exists.

(4) Do any act in the capacity of a farm labor contractor, or cause any act to be done, which constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude under any law of the state of Washington[i].

Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 19.30.200 provides that any person who knowingly uses the services of an unlicensed farm labor contractor shall be personally, jointly, and severally liable with the person acting as a farm labor contractor to the same extent and in the same manner as provided in this chapter.  In making determinations under this section, any user may rely upon either the license issued by the director to the farm labor contractor under RCW 19.30.030 or the director’s representation that such contractor is licensed as required by this chapter.

The statute provides that it is the intent of the legislature that the department assist agricultural employers in mitigating the costs of the state’s unemployment insurance program.  The department shall work with members of the agricultural community to:

• improve understanding of the program’s operation;
• increase compliance with work-search requirements;
• provide prompt notification of potential claims against an employer’s experience rating;
• inform employers of their rights;
• inform employers of the actions necessary to appeal a claim and to protect their rights; and
• reduce claimant and employer fraud[ii].

Pursuant to Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 49.30.020, each employer required to keep employment records under RCW 49.46.070, shall retain such records for three years.  Each employer shall furnish to each employee at the time the employee’s wages are paid an itemized statement showing the pay basis in hours or days worked, the rate or rates of pay, the gross pay, and all deductions from the pay for the respective pay period.

An employer shall provide employees engaged in agricultural production of crops or livestock or agricultural services with information and training on hazardous chemicals in their workplace at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new hazard is introduced into their work area, such instruction shall be tailored to the types of hazards to which the employees will be exposed.  Seasonal and temporary employees who are not exposed to hazardous chemicals in their work area need not be trained.  Employers shall maintain any material safety data sheets that are received with incoming shipments of hazardous chemicals, and ensure that they are accessible to agricultural employees upon request.  Employers shall ensure that labels on incoming containers of hazardous chemicals are not removed or defaced[iii].

The statute provides that the employment security department is authorized to enter into such agreements and contracts as may be necessary to provide for the continued operation of the facility by a state agency, an appropriate local governmental body, or by such other entity as the commissioner may deem appropriate and in the state’s best interest[iv].

Pursuant to Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 70.114A.010, the legislature finds that there is an inadequate supply of temporary and permanent housing for migrant and seasonal workers in this state.  The legislature also finds that unclear, complex regulations related to the development, construction, and permitting of worker housing inhibit the development of this much needed housing.  The legislature further finds that as a result, many workers are forced to obtain housing that is unsafe and unsanitary.

Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to encourage the development of temporary and permanent housing for workers that is safe and sanitary by:

• establishing a clear and concise set of regulations for temporary housing;
• establishing a streamlined permitting and administrative process that will be locally administered and encourage the development of such housing; and
• providing technical assistance to organizations or individuals interested in the development of worker housing.

During the application of any pesticide on a farm or in a forest, the agricultural employer shall not allow or direct any person, other than an appropriately trained and equipped handler, to enter or to remain in the treated area[v].  WAC § 16-233-140 provides that the agricultural employer shall assure that each worker, required by this section to be trained, has been trained according to this section during the last five years, counting from the end of the month in which the training was completed.  Before a worker enters a treated area on the agricultural establishment during a restricted-entry interval to perform early entry activities permitted by WAC 16-233-120 and contacts anything that has been treated with the pesticide to which the restricted-entry interval applies, including but not limited to, soil, water, or surfaces of plants, the agricultural employer shall assure that the worker has been trained.

The agricultural employer must provide decontamination supplies for workers whenever:

(a) Any worker on the agricultural establishment is performing an activity in the area where a pesticide was applied or a restricted-entry interval (REI) was in effect within the last thirty days; and

(b) The worker contacts anything that has been treated with the pesticide, including, but not limited to soil, water, plants, plant surfaces, and plant parts[vi].

WAC § 296-131-117 provides that except where a higher minimum wage is required by Washington state or federal law:

(1) Every employer shall pay to each employee who has reached their sixteenth or seventeenth year of age a rate of pay per hour which is equal to the hourly rate required by RCW 49.46.020 for employees eighteen years of age or older, whether computed on an hourly, commission, piecework, or other basis, except as may be otherwise provided under this chapter.

(2) Every employer shall pay to each employee who has not reached their sixteenth year of age a rate of pay per hour that is not less than eighty-five percent of the hourly rate required by RCW 49.46.020 for employees eighteen years of age or older, whether computed on an hourly, commission, piecework, or other basis, except as may be otherwise provided under this chapter.

(3) These minimum wage provisions shall not apply when a minor student is in a work place to carry out an occupational training experience assignment directly supervised on the premises by a school official or an employer under contract with a school, and when no appreciable benefit is rendered to the employer by the presence of the minor student.

Employment in the following occupations in agriculture is prohibited to minors under the age of sixteen:

(a) Operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor.

(b) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:

(i) Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, or mobile pea viner;

(ii) Feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer; or

(iii) Power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking type rotary tiller.

(c) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:

(i) Trencher or earthmoving equipment;

(ii) Fork lift; or

(iii) Potato combine.

(d) Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a:

(i) Bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or

(ii) Sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present).

(e) Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than six inches.

(f) Working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over twenty feet.

(g) Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.

(h) Working inside:

(i) A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere;

Employment in the following occupations in agriculture is prohibited to all minors:

(a) Handling, mixing, loading or applying (including cleaning or decontaminating equipment, disposal or return of empty containers, or serving as a flagman for aircraft applying) agricultural chemicals classified under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq.) as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word “poison” and the “skull and crossbones” on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word “warning” on the label.

(b) Handling or using a blasting agent, including but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord.

(c) Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

(d) Work involving circular, band or chain saws, power driven wood working machines, power driven metal forming, punching and shearing machines, and guillotine shears.

(e) Work involving slaughtering, meat packing, or processing and rendering.

(f) Work involving wrecking and demolition.

(g) Work involving roofing.

(h) Work involving mechanical excavation.

(i) Work in any place where a strike or lockout exists.

The employment prohibited by subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the employment of any minor in those occupations for which the minor has successfully completed one or more federal extension service training programs described in 29 C.F.R. section 570.72(b) and who has been instructed by the employer in the safe and proper operation of the specific equipment to be used, who is continuously and closely supervised by the employer where feasible or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, whose safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon, or during the first and second halves of the workday, whichever is more frequent.

The employment prohibited by subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the employment of any minor in those occupations for which the minor has successfully completed one or more of the vocational agriculture training programs described in 29 C.F.R. section 570.72(c) and who has been instructed by the employer in the safe and proper operation of the specific equipment to be used, who is continuously and closely supervised by the employer where feasible or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, whose safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon, or during the first and second halves of the workday, whichever is more frequent.  No minor shall be permitted to ride in or work in the vicinity of a vehicle driven by any person who is under the age of sixteen or anyone who does not possess a valid driver’s license.  No minor shall be employed in agriculture in the harvest of any crop to which agricultural chemicals described in subsection (2)(a) of this section have been applied, prior to the expiration of the preharvest interval or within fourteen days after the application if no preharvest interval has been established[vii].

Minors legally required to attend school may not be employed during school hours except by special permission from school officials as provided in RCW 28A.27.010 and 28A.27.090.  Minors under the age of sixteen may work up to three hours a day on school days, up to eight hours a day on nonschool days and up to twenty-one hours a week during weeks when school is in session. Minors under the age of sixteen may work up to eight hours a day and up to forty hours a week during weeks when school is not in session.  Except as otherwise provided, on days when school is in session, minors under the age of sixteen may not be employed before 7:00 a.m. nor after 8:00 p.m.  On days when school is not in session, minors under the age of sixteen may not be employed before 5:00 a.m. nor after 9:00 p.m. On days when school is in session, minors under the age of sixteen employed in animal agriculture or whose employment in crop production requires daily attention to irrigation, may be employed beginning at 6:00 a.m.

Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to twenty-eight hours a week, up to four hours a day on school days and up to eight hours a day on nonschool days during weeks when school is in session.  Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to ten hours per day and up to fifty hours per week during weeks when school is not in session.  Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to sixty hours per week in the mechanical harvest of peas, wheat, and hay during weeks when school is not in session.  Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may not be employed before 5:00 a.m. nor after 10:00 p.m.  Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may not work later than 9:00 p.m. on more than two consecutive nights preceding a school day.  Except for minors employed in dairy or livestock production, in the harvest of hay, or whose employment in crop production requires daily attention to irrigation, no minor shall be employed more than six days in any one week[viii].

[i] Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 19.30.120.

[ii] Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 49.30.005.

[iii] Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 49.70.115.

[iv] Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 70.114.020.

[v] WAC § 16-233-115.

[vi] WAC § 16-233-150.

[vii] WAC § 296-131-125.

[viii] WAC § 296-131-120.