Manager didn’t require masks and company faces fines — again, Washington officials say
After the safety manager told inspectors he would not make employees wear masks, a Washington fruit grower and processor has been fined more than $150,000 for “willful” violations of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, according to a news release from the Department of Labor and Industries.
The latest fines — totaling $156,000 — are the result of “two willful serious violations” in which Evans Fruit Co. Inc. did not enforce mask wearing or social distancing, the release said. The fines — one for face coverings and the other for physical distancing — are each $78,000, according to documents from the Department of Labor and Industries.
This is the third time the company has been fined for COVID-19 safety and health violations in recent months, according to the release.
In the most recent case, the Department of Labor and Industries opened an investigation into the company’s Cowiche worksite on Oct. 14 after receiving an anonymous tip, Dina Lorraine, a spokesperson for the department, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. An inspector was sent to the site on Oct. 15, Lorraine said.
The investigator reported seeing workers who were not social distancing and interacting without physical barriers between them.. Workers in the warehouse and the office were also seen without masks, and the safety manager told the investigator “he would not require any worker to wear a mask,” according to the release.
The company was fined $6,600 in the summer after inspectors found social distancing and mask requirements were not being enforced at two separate fruit packing sites, the release said. Evans Fruit appealed those fines, according to the release.
“Evans Fruit Co. disputes wrongdoing and is appealing the violations on all grounds. ... In light of the serious nature of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with Washington State law, Evans Fruit Co. requires all employees to wear masks at all times while working,” Joseph Ridgeway, an attorney representing the company, told McClatchy News in a statement. “Evans Fruit Co. is committed to continuing to protect and promote the health and safety of its workers — without sacrificing jobs.”
The labor department considers the violations willful because “the company knew employees were required to wear masks and the employer knowingly did not enforce it,” which means the penalty is 10 times larger, the release said. The company previously had told inspectors “the masks made fruit packers hot to the point they were passing out,” the release said.
As a result of the violations, the department issued an Order and Notice of Immediate Restraint to the company, according to documents. Evans Fruit came into compliance within a half-hour of getting the notice, according to the release.
“Mask and distancing requirements are not voluntary,” Craig Blackwood, acting assistant director for the department’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said in the release. “They are meant to prevent the spread of COVID in the workplace, but they won’t work if they’re not used. Evans Fruit Company’s blatant disregard for the rules threatens employee health and safety.”
The company has 15 business days to appeal the fines, the release said.
Washington has reported 291,701 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,211 deaths as of Thursday, according to the department of health.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Manager didn’t require masks and company faces fines — again, Washington officials say."