WA labor department investigates claims farmworkers were working through floods

Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) is investigating two Skagit Valley farms for claims that they had employees working last Wednesday and Thursday, even as evacuation orders were issued for the area.

Knutzen Farms and Skagit Valley Farm are both in Burlington, which was under immediate evacuation order by 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, according to the city’s emergency alert page. Neither farms responded to calls or emails asking for comment.

“If there's a mandatory evacuation order for an area, conditions on the ground in that area are not safe for workers,” said Matt Ross, public affairs manager for L&I, in an email. “Outside of mandatory evacuations, flood conditions can still present hazards — we would respond to any complaints to assess specific circumstances.”

Ross also noted that employees have the protected right to refuse to work under dangerous conditions. If they feel that right is violated, they can call 1-800-4BE-SAFE to file a complaint.

Lucy Madrigal is an advocate with the farmworkers rights group Community to Community. She heard reports that there were workers in Skagit Valley Farm’s brussels sprout fields last Wednesday evening, so she went to find out for herself. She says she observed workers operating heavy machinery in the mud, and she took photos of their cars, which she shared with KUOW.

“ I feel upset,” she said. “Upset and sad of the fact that it's always farmworkers that get left behind. Everybody else gets to go home, prepare for the worst, but yet why are there still workers outside working?”

The following morning, Madrigal’s coworker Isaac Cavazos looked into reports of workers onsite at Knutzen Farms. He said he saw workers on duty despite rising water in the field and around a potato shed.

“ I think they were just really speedily trying to process through their things just in case flood levels were to continue to rise, that product would be safe,” Cavazos said. “But that's putting product over worker lives.”

The historic levels of flooding seen in Washington over the past week can be devastating for some farmers, many of whom are already under extreme financial stress. Farmers are only beginning to assess the damage from the floods.

RELATED: WA farmers expect floods, but nothing this catastrophic

Community to Community founder Rosalinda Guillen said the incidents brought back painful memories from 2021, when a farmworker drowned in the Whatcom County floods on his way to work.

“ The only person that died on that flood was a farm worker, and we're very conscious of that,” she said. “It just sits with us as a heavy loss.”