Washington Growers Fear Farmworker Housing Cuts of Up to 50%
April 27, 2020 The Washington State Departments of Labor and Industries and of Health proposed emergency rules relating to coronavirus preventive measures in temporary farmworker housing, according to an alert issued Saturday by the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. The proposed rules interpret the social distancing requirement to severely limit the use of bunk beds, decreasing potential occupancy of temporary worker housing by 30% to 50% in most cases.
These agencies had planned to enforce COVID-19 prevention measures (including social distancing) through existing L&I hazard prevention requirements and to issue guidance documents to employers on how to meet these standards, according to WSTFA. However, the state decided to issue emergency rules on those issues pertaining to housing after being sued last week by the United Farmworkers and Familias Unidas por la Justicia, who are being represented by Columbia Legal Services.
In their petition to the court, these unions claimed that the state’s enforcement plans were unclear and unenforceable, although their primary goal was to achieve more restrictive requirements than those proposed by L&I, which recognized that some measures would not be feasible in all circumstances. The state opted to move forward with separate emergency rules on this issue prior to the court’s hearing on May 1, likely to help counter the unions’ argument that the state must be forced to take additional action, according to WSTFA.
The draft rules allow alternative engineering or administrative controls (physical modifications or management policies) to be substituted if reviewed and approved by the agencies to provide comparable protections. However, it is not clear what alternatives might be approved by the agencies. WSTFA is working on preparing comments on these draft rules in coordination with allied agricultural organizations.
WSTFA encourages members to comment on how the draft rules affect their operation. Visit the Washington State Farm Bureau’s website for more resources and sample letters to use when drafting comments. Comments will be accepted only through today, Monday, April 27, to DOH at [email protected] and to L&I at [email protected].
In a related development, WSTFA says growers are seeing a sharp increase in reports alleging violations of social distancing orders. In many cases, the reports are anonymous and not specific (farm X is not following social distancing rules, etc.). However, the agencies are promptly conducting follow-up investigations on these reports.
Because of that, WSTFA is reminding growers to have your safety plans updated to reflect the coronavirus requirements, to conduct required employee training on this topic, to ensure that your operations have implemented social distancing or alternative equivalents, and that all locations have and are using sanitation and hygiene supplies.
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