Toppenish-based Shinn & Son will pay $300,000 and reform its hiring and training practices under a consent decree with Washington state to resolve allegations the farm discriminated against local farmworkers and women while misleading jobseekers.

People who lost out on work or were otherwise hurt by Shinn & Son’s actions will receive compensation from the settlement, with amounts ranging from about $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the number and severity of each worker’s claims. Shinn & Son grows hops, corn, hemp, and pumpkin and has operated in Washington since 1980.

Shinn & Son fired two crews of local farmworkers in the spring of 2023, shortly after the grower received approval from the U.S. Department of Labor to bring in foreign guestworkers through the H-2A visa program, according to the AGO’s complaint filed in Yakima County Superior Court. The employer told the local farmworkers, most of whom were women, that there was no available work, even though 95 H-2A workers started working in the fields in late April 2023.

Between March and May 2023, at least 20 women who had been let go by Shinn & Son reapplied for work but were repeatedly told there were no openings. Since at least 2022, the employer demonstrated a pattern of discrimination against female employees, telling them they were “old grandmas,” “useless,” and should be put in nursing homes.

“Bringing in temporary guestworkers when there are qualified people here in Washington willing and able to do the work is an abuse of the system and a violation of our laws. I’m determined to hold employers accountable when they circumvent our state’s worker protections.” – AG Brown