October 13, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Fazio, WAFLA sued for sexual harassment, discrimination
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
tion, WAFLA, headquartered
in Lacey next to Olympia, was
expanded by Fazio several
years ago into the Northwest’s
main provider of thousands of
H-2A-visa foreign guestwork-
ers, mainly to the tree fruit in-
dustry.
The lawsuit was fi led in
early June by Dawn Dobbins,
a former WAFLA employee,
in Thurston County Superior
Court in Olympia and was
moved later that month to
U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
The lawsuit says Dobbins
didn’t know, when she was
hired by WAFLA as an ad-
ministrative assistant, that
“Fazio has a long history of
unlawful, inappropriate and
discriminatory behavior.”
It was “especially egre-
gious considering that WAF-
LA provides human resources
services to agricultural em-
ployers and that Fazio holds
himself out as an expert on
the subject of employment
practices,” the lawsuit states.
“Fazio has a pattern and
practice of treating female
employees with contempt and
ridicule,” the lawsuit states. It
further said Fazio made racist
comments, including that peo-
ple with darker skin should be
doing all the work, that Mexi-
cans are fat and have diabetes
because they drink Coke and
that an Asian account execu-
tive would do a good job for
a customer because he’s Asian
and therefore smart.
Dobbins was promoted to
human resources and offi ce
manager in October 2016.
Fazio would sit next to
her, instead of across a table,
in closed-door meetings and
would “cause his legs to touch
hers in a sexual and inappro-
priate manner” and did it in a
way others could not see, the
lawsuit states.
“Fazio repeatedly stared
at Dobbins’ breasts in a sex-
ual manner instead of looking
her in the eyes,” the lawsuit
states.
When Dobbins stood up
for a woman employee that
Fazio didn’t like, he demot-
ed her from human resources
Oregon county’s aerial
spray ban gets day in court
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
After careful consider-
ation, EO Media Events,
LLC and Capital Press hava
made the diffi cult decision to
cancel the 2018 Northwest
Ag Show.
EO Media Events, LLC
acquired the Northwest Ag
Show earlier this year. Based
on feedback from long-time
vendors, it became appar-
ent that holding the show in
North Portland presents chal-
lenges that have hindered its
success, particularly in re-
gards to attendance.
We apologize to our show
vendors, partners, sponsors
and attendees for any incon-
venience that this decision
will cause. Please know that
this decision was not made
lightly as we recognize the
48-year legacy of the North-
west Ag Show and of Jim and
Shirley Heater, the show’s
founders, and Amy and Mike
Patrick, the show’s long-time
managers. The Heaters and
Patricks have worked dili-
gently over the years to make
it the largest ag show in the
Northwest. Our intent is to
continue the tradition of a
high quality, well-attended
show as we look forward to
2019.
We are evaluating the
feedback and suggestions
from vendors and the ag
community to develop a new
approach to the show to make
it a better investment for ven-
dors and for attendees.
If you have suggestions
and ideas about the show,
contact us at events@eome-
diagroup.com or call 800-
882-6789.
Environmentalists have
failed to prove that grazing
along two rivers in Oregon’s
Malheur National Forest un-
lawfully harmed the threat-
ened bull trout, according to
a federal judge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge
Paul Papak has found that
the U.S. Forest Service’s
grazing authorizations along
the Malheur and North Fork
Malheur rivers haven’t vio-
lated environmental laws.
Papak has recommended
dismissing a lawsuit fi led
against the agency by the
Oregon Natural Desert As-
sociation and the Center for
Biological Diversity.
The
environmental
groups have until mid-Oc-
tober to object to the rec-
ommendation, which will
ultimately be decided by
U.S. District Judge Michael
Mosman.
The lawsuit was orig-
inally filed 14 years ago
but was revived earlier
this year after the plaintiffs
weren’t able to reach a set-
tlement with ranchers and
the federal government.
Habitat degradation has
caused bull trout popula-
tions in the two rivers to
dwindle to about 100 fish,
which the environmental
groups blamed on grazing.
However, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has
concluded that grazing is
unlikely to adversely affect
bull trout or their habitat
ORE.
26
Unity
Prairie
City
BAKER
26
GRANT
MALHEUR
NATIONAL
FOREST
MALHEUR
R.
Capital Press cancels Northwest Ag Show
Area in
detail
ur
Rights, which intervened as a
defendant in the case.
“These concepts may seem
radical or revolutionary to us
now but these are concepts in
our Constitution,” she said.
Voters had a right to approve
a ballot initiative that protects
the environment and public
from the “toxic trespass” of aeri-
ally sprayed pesticides, accord-
ing to ordinance proponents.
Oregon lawmakers don’t
have the ability to create an
upper limit or “ceiling” that
precludes stronger protective
local standards for health
and safety, they claim.
Capital Press
e
Mal h
“There is no opportunity
for local government to adopt
laws that are different than state
laws” regarding pesticides, said
Gregory Chaimov, the plain-
tiff’s attorney.
Supporters of the aerial
spray ban countered that the
county has an inherent “natu-
ral right” to local community
self-government that should be
affi rmed by the judge.
Under the Oregon Consti-
tution, all power is inherent in
the people, who may reform or
abolish the government, said
Ann Kneeland, attorney for
Lincoln County Community
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
N.F.
Associated Press File
A helicopter prepares to apply pesticides. Oral arguments in a case
challenging a ban in Lincoln County, Ore., on aerial spraying.
the executives in this letter and
may release this letter to the
press,” the memo states.
A June 28, 2017, memo,
again purportedly from “con-
cerned staff,” alleges Fazio
used H-2A visas for H-2B
clients, that it was a com-
mon practice at WAFLA to
forge employers’ signatures.
Further, that WAFLA issued
incorrect
advertisements,
gave incorrect tax advice,
gave legal advice on how to
fi re H-2A employees and get
them off workers compensa-
tion prior to them returning to
Mexico, and advice on how to
falsify dates of need and get
around regulations.
The memo alleges Fazio
instructed staff to delete emails
that he did not want to be dis-
coverable and alleges numer-
ous other questionable actions.
The memo says a majority
of WAFLA board members
resigned shortly after getting
a letter regarding illegal be-
havior of Fazio and two other
WAFLA executives. Fazio
told staff he would recruit new
board members and it is appar-
ent he controls WAFLA not the
board nor members, the memo
states.
Bresler said one board
member quit for unknown rea-
sons, another for personal rea-
sons and that two prospective
board members decided not
to join after reading the fi rst
memo.
Judge: Grazing not to blame for bull trout decline
ur River
M a l he
NEWPORT, Ore. — Sup-
porters of a prohibition against
aerial pesticide spraying in
Oregon’s Lincoln County are
urging a judge to uphold the
ordinance even though it’s
pre-empted by state law.
Lincoln County Community
Rights, which supports the ban,
argues that Oregon laws that
pre-empt local governments
from regulating pesticides are
unconstitutional.
The ordinance was approved
by voters earlier this year but is
being challenged in a lawsuit
fi led by landowners Rex Capri
and Wakefi eld Farms, who rely
on aerial spraying.
During oral arguments on
Oct. 9, the plaintiffs asked
Lincoln County Circuit Court
Judge Sheryl Bachart to declare
the ordinance invalid because
a local government can’t over-
rule Oregon law.
Not only does the county
lack the general authority to
enact such an ordinance, but
the prohibition is specifi cally
barred by Oregon statutes gov-
erning pesticides, forest prac-
tices and the “right to farm,”
according to plaintiffs.
a discriminatory and hostile
workplace for Dobbins, she
fi led a charge with the Equal
Employment
Opportunity
Commission and received
a right-to-sue letter and on
May 31, 2017, WAFLA fi red
Dobbins. Dobbins refused to
sign a separation agreement
waiving her legal rights. The
lawsuit alleges violation of
state discrimination law, man-
agement negligence, unlawful
termination and seeks damag-
es to be proven at trial. A jury
trial is set for Nov. 26, 2018,
in U.S. District Court.
A June 14, 2017, memo to
the WAFLA board purported-
ly from “concerned WAFLA
staff, names Fazio and two
other top WAFLA offi cers as
“engaging in illegal and poor
management practices.” The
memo alleges sexual harass-
ment, discrimination against
women,
minorities
and
younger and older staff and
disparate treatment and pay.
It alleges Fazio tampered with
an internal investigation about
sexual harassment.
High staff turnover result-
ed in not enough qualifi ed
people to keep the H-2A pro-
gram running leading to fear
WAFLA would lose clients,
the memo states.
“If these issues are not
resolved in the near future, a
large group of prior and cur-
rent staff will likely seek legal
action against WAFLA and
Bull trout
habitat
HARNEY
Juntura
N
20
10 miles
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
in the seven allotments in
question, which encompass
tens of thousands of acres.
The
environmen-
tal plaintiffs nonetheless
claimed grazing authoriza-
tions violated the National
Forest Management Act
and Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act.
Ranchers affected by
the lawsuit and the Forest
Service argued the environ-
mentalists were impermis-
sibly attacking the agency’s
entire grazing program —
which can only be changed
through statute or regula-
tion — rather than specific
agency actions.
Though it was a “close
question,” Papak nonethe-
less decided against throw-
ing out the case on these
grounds.
Even so, the judge re-
jected the claim that live-
stock grazing hadn’t met
“riparian management ob-
jectives,” which must be
followed “at the watershed
or landscape scale, rather
than stream by stream.”
While bull trout popu-
lations in the region were
found to be at risk, Papak
said the plaintiffs “have
not shown that the Forest
Service’s decisions to au-
thorize livestock grazing
caused the decline of the
bull trout population or its
habitat in the allotments
here.”
According to the Fish
and Wildlife Service, mul-
tiple factors have like-
ly contributed to the bull
trout’s misfortune, includ-
ing dam-building, logging,
irrigation withdrawals and
the introduction of brook
trout, a non-native fish, the
judge said.
Papak also disagreed
with the environmentalists’
claim that data collection
about stream conditions
was “so useless as to be
equivalent to no data.”
“The record here estab-
lishes that the Forest Ser-
vice reasonably monitored
riparian conditions and an-
alyzed the data collected,”
he said.
The judge also rejected
arguments that grazing vi-
olated the Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act, noting that cattle
are generally excluded from
the river corridors with fenc-
ing and steep terrain.
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ROP-40-4-1/HOU
OLYMPIA — A lawsuit
alleging sexual harassment,
racist remarks and discrimi-
natory behavior by Dan Fazio,
director of the farm labor as-
sociation WAFLA, and by
WAFLA is pending in federal
court.
And memos to WAFLA
board members purportedly
from anonymous staff allege
sexual harassment, discrimi-
nation, retaliation against staff
who complain and poor man-
agement and illegal activities
by several top staff resulting
in dysfunction and high em-
ployee turnover.
Fazio told Capital Press he
could not comment.
“WAFLA vigorously dis-
putes the allegations made by
a former employee and looks
forward to defending itself
in court,” said Kim Bresler,
WAFLA’s membership and
communications director. Al-
legations of illegal activity in
the memos are “strongly and
vehemently denied,” Bresler
said.
Several prospective WA-
FLA board members decided
not to come on the board be-
cause of the fi rst memo, but
the organization is function-
ing and is not concerned about
losing clients, she said.
First known as the Wash-
ington Farm Labor Associa-
manager to entry-level ac-
count executive, the lawsuit
states.
Dobbins fi led a formal
complaint, pursuant to com-
pany procedures, on Jan. 12,
2017, and was informed on
Jan. 20 that it would not be
investigated for another two
months. Thereafter, she was
subjected to humiliation and
ridicule, the lawsuit states.
George Zanatta, WAFLA
chief operating offi cer, deliv-
ered fi ndings on the complaint
months after Dobbins sub-
mitted it and while admitting
some of Fazio’s behaviors
were inexcusable attempted to
discredit Dobbins and called
upon her to apologize to Fazio
for alleged inaccurate state-
ments, the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit
the fi ndings recommended
Dobbins be reassigned and
given corrective measures and
did not recommend any disci-
pline for Fazio other than for
him to apologize to Dobbins.
The fi ndings did not con-
sider allegations of offen-
sive and demeaning conduct
by Fazio in the separate and
prior litigation of Mendoza
v. WAFLA that have been
known to WAFLA for years,
the lawsuit states. WAFLA
continues to “tolerate illegal,
discriminatory behavior from
Fazio,” the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit,
WAFLA and Fazio created