Gebbers Farms reaches settlement over COVID-19 violations
TUMWATER — Okanogan County's Gebbers Farms will make $2 million worth of housing and safety upgrades for its farmworkers and their families rather than pay fines of about the same amount to the state Department of Labor & Industries in a settlement announced Wednesday.
L&I fined Gebbers Farms $2,038,200 — the largest fine in the state's history — for a total of 30 violations the agency claims contributed to COVID-related deaths of two farmworkers last summer.
The state fined Gebbers Farms after two inspections in 2020 found 12 violations related to unsafe sleeping arrangements in temporary worker housing and another 12 for unsafe worker transportation.
Two farm workers died from COVID-19 while living and working at Gebbers Farm in July 2020 — a 37-year old man from Mexico and a 63-year old man from Jamaica. L&I later issued another six violations, which included not reporting a COVID-fatality, according to the news release.
https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/gebbers-farms-reaches-settlement-over-covid-19-violations/article_2ec67de4-f570-11eb-8293-cf27c002e94c.html
Great, the workers will have better living quarters to die in sometime in the future. 💀
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