Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor announced it took the step of debarring an H-2A employer in Washington from using the program for three years. The department also assessed fines and recovered unpaid wages for 26 employees.

We bring you this news as a reminder that our industry is under a regulatory and public relations microscope. We take great care in vetting our members who use wafla for accessing the H-2A program. The orchard in question was not a member of wafla. Our members deserve to know that wafla will only work with seasonal employers who choose to do the right thing.

At wafla, we believe everyone in our industry – farmers and farmworkers – should be treated with dignity and respect. We believe in equitable employment, and we invest heavily in educating our farmers and farmworkers on how to avoid these types of issues and resolve them at the lowest levels.

When these types of issues arise, we immediately bring them to our members’ attention and expect our members' help to resolve them promptly and with integrity. Our field ambassadors work as liaisons to resolve issues between employers and employees and offer worker orientation and training. We even leverage outside resources such as government agencies, legal counsel, and additional consultants to make sure we have addressed problems and assisted our members in preventing them in the future.

Please reach out to your account executive with any issues that arise. We want to make sure that you are served well and that wafla's membership, and our industry, can withstand scrutiny with integrity and success so we can continue to benefit from these vital guest worker programs.