Washington Wage-and-Hour Class Action Filed Against Wyckoff Farms, Inc.

A new class action lawsuit highlights common wage-and-hour issues in the agricultural industry across Washington State. The lawsuit against Wyckoff Farms, Inc., an agricultural business that cultivates crops and operates in Yakima County, alleges the company failed to properly pay its non-exempt, hourly employees.

According to the complaint, staffing conditions and scheduling demands regularly prevented supervisor assistants and other non-exempt employees from taking legally required meal and rest breaks. Employees allegedly worked through their meal and rest periods to meet the company’s work requirements and were not compensated with the additional premium pay owed for missed breaks.

The complaint also alleges that the company failed to pay proper overtime for hours worked over 40 in a week and failed to properly accrue and allow the use of paid sick leave. It further claims employees received inaccurate paystubs that did not reflect all hours worked during each pay period, and that the company’s systematic failure to provide required breaks and overtime pay resulted in company-wide minimum wage violations. The lawsuit alleges these violations were willful and part of a pattern and practice rather than the result of clerical error.

The case seeks to proceed as a class action on behalf of current and former non-exempt, hourly employees of Wyckoff Farms, Inc. in Washington State from three years prior to filing through final resolution.