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December 1, 2017 CapitalPress.com 9 Washington Stemilt sues ex-employee for big loss By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — An employee of Stemilt Agriculture Services has been fired and sued by the company for allegedly bill- ing it more than $1.1 million, through a pass-through com- pany, for services she was paid for as an employee and for work no one did. Elizabeth Hernandez, who worked in human resources for Stemilt Ag Services, and her company H2 Global are defendants as are Kennewick farm labor contractor, Ever- green Agricultural Services, and its manager Abraham Larios. The lawsuit was filed last month in Chelan County Superior Court in Wenatchee. The defendants’ attorney, Jef- frey Sperline, Kennewick, could not be reached for comment. Stemilt Ag Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stemilt Growers, a large tree fruit company in Wenatchee. Stemilt Growers packs and sells its own fruit and that of independent growers. Stemilt Ag Services manag- es more than 8,000 acres of company-owned and leased orchards. The company was authorized by the U.S. De- partment of Labor to hire 2,082 H-2A guestworkers in 2017, the sixth largest em- ployer of H-2A in the nation. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Mike Miller conducts his last Washington Grain Commission meet- ing as chairman on Nov. 16 in Spokane. He is running unopposed for re-election to the board. He is also chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates. Miller ends term as grain commission chairman By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SPOKANE — Mike Mill- er didn’t have big plans for the Washington Grain Com- mission when he took over as chairman. “I had no agenda, I had no real goals,” said the Ritzville, Wash., wheat farmer. “I hope I kept the ship going in the same direction.” Miller conducted his last meeting as chairman of the commission board on Nov. 16. His two-year term expires Dec. 31 but he will remain on the commission. He is running unopposed for re-election. The next chairman will be selected at the Jan. 4 commis- sion meeting. Fellow commission mem- ber Dana Herron believes Miller has had a positive im- pact. He credited Miller with taking advantage of every op- portunity for the industry. “He has sacrificed a lot of family time and farming time for the growers,” Herron said. “As long as I’ve been there, in the last 11 years, he’s been by far one of the most active chairmen we’ve ever had.” Miller believes the com- mission must continue to maintain its reserves to ac- complish its goals during a time when federal funding is uncertain. The Trump admin- istration has proposed reduc- ing the budget for marketing programs the commission uses. Dan Wheat/Capital Press File The corporate office of Stemilt Growers and its orchard man- agement subsidiary, Stemilt Agriculture Services, in Wenatchee, Wash. The company is suing an ex-employee for breach of contract for losses of more than $1.1 million. Shortly after she was hired by Stemilt Ag Services in 2009, Hernandez helped the company recruit and hire H-2A foreign guestworkers, according to the lawsuit al- leging tortious interference and breach of contract. In 2016, while still em- ployed at Stemilt Ag Ser- vices, Hernandez formed H2 Global to recruit, trans- port and hire seasonal H-2A workers. Hernandez arranged for Stemilt Ag Services to contract with Evergreen Ag- ricultural Services for H-2A recruitment, hiring, transpor- tation and related services, the lawsuit states. Hernandez provided in- voices from H2 Global to Evergreen for work she per- formed in recruitment, hir- ing and transporting H-2A workers for Stemilt Ag Ser- vices. Evergreen then pre- pared separate invoices for the same work and billed Stemilt Ag Services, the lawsuit states. Stemilt Ag Services paid Evergreen for services Her- nandez should have per- formed as an employee of Stemilt Ag Services, for “services not provided” and Hernandez used Stemilt Ag Services resources for con- ducting her business as H2 Global without compensat- ing Stemilt Ag Services, the lawsuit states. In the summer of 2017, Stemilt Ag Services admin- istrative staff discovered the potential that the company paid for services provided by H2 Global that had been billed to it by Evergreen. It further discovered that Her- nandez was a 50 percent part- ner in H2 Global, the lawsuit states. Following an audit, Stemilt Ag Services fired Hernandez on Oct. 17. Subsequent to the firing, Stemilt Ag Services learned Hernandez and Larios re- cruited approximately 50 H-2A workers away from Stemilt Ag Services — many of whom they hired — to work elsewhere, resulting in the likelihood the company would not be able to harvest all of its crop and having a “significant economic im- pact,” the lawsuit states. The workers were used at other orchards where the workers were not authorized to work under federal law and it was a breach of Ever- green’s contract with Stemilt Ag Services, the lawsuit states. About 30 of the work- ers were found working for Columbia Fruit Packers in Quincy and had been offered as domestic workers to Co- lumbia by Larios, accord- ing to an affidavit of Zach Williams, Stemilt human re- sources director. State favors tagging every cow with radio ID; ranchers don’t see need WSDA says move will help contain animal diseases By DON JENKINS Capital Press Don Jenkins/Capital Press A cow in Washington wears a number. The Washington State Department of Agriculture favors tagging all cows with radio-fre- quency identification to transmit movements to a database. WSDA says the high-tech tags will help contain animal diseases. Some ranchers see the tags as intrusive. vaccinated for brucellosis or introduced into a breeding herd. “I think those are big steps,” Washington State Dairy Federation policy di- rector Jay Gordon said. “They certainly deserve careful thought and consideration.” Gordon said some dairy farmers already electroni- cally track the health and performance of each cow to improve their herds. Some producers may question the need for additional tracking, though others may see market advantages in being able to verify to consumers where the cows were born and raised, he said. To track the movements of more cows, WSDA early last year set up an online system for dairies to self-report small sales. Previously sales be- tween private parties of fewer than 15 head of dairy cows didn’t have to be reported. So far, only three small sales involving 49 head have been reported. Stevens County ranch- er Ted Wishon said WSDA should plug gaps in the sys- tem before putting more rules on beef cattlemen. “Let’s fix the holes. Let’s not put ev- erybody in the same bucket,” said Wishon, past president of the Cattle Producers of Wash- ington. WSDA collects brand, health and transaction re- cords, and Wishon said that in an emergency he could readi- ly provide WSDA with writ- ten details on the movements of his cows. “I can sit down and show you everywhere ev- ery one of my cows has been,” he said But Wishon said he oppos- es having his cattle’s move- ments recorded in a govern- ment database. “There’s certainly infor- mation I call propriety that I don’t think government should have at a push of a but- ton,” he said. “It sounds pretty good, like it’s for the public good, but it puts more burden on the producer. It just keeps getting more and more cumbersome,” Wishon said. “I do not see the cost-benefit to the producer.” WSDA Director Derek Sandison said that brands identify herds, but ra- dio-frequency identification is needed to track single animals. Grass Expertise. LET’S TALK! GREENWAY SEEDS Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman Cell: 298-259-9159 • MSG: 298-454-8342 Over 40 Years Experience Alan Greenway, Seedsman 48-1/108 OLYMPIA — The Wash- ington State Department of Agriculture may adopt rules requiring producers to tag ev- ery cow with radio-frequency identification, a level of elec- tronic monitoring opposed by some ranchers. The department says the tags will help follow a cow from birth to slaughter, help- ing animal-health officials to speedily respond to diseases and bringing the state in line with coming USDA stan- dards. “These (the rules) are all intended to track an animal within hours rather than with- in days,” State Veterinarian Brian Joseph told the Senate Agriculture Committee Nov. 14. “It’s very important we be able to do that rapidly because the more rapidly we can do that, the less economic impact there is.” WSDA continues to work on its ability to trace animal diseases more than a dozen years after the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform enceph- alopathy appeared in Wash- ington, The state currently records changes in livestock ownership, though the depart- ment says the system, partly based on self-reporting of sales, has gaps. WSDA reports that only 5 percent of the state’s beef cows now have radio-frequen- cy identification. Although 80 percent of dairy cows are electronically tagged, they come from a minority, 40 per- cent, of the dairies. The department envisions that by no later than 2023 ev- ery ranch, dairy and farm with cattle will have a “premises identification number” and that every cow that leaves the premises will have a radio tag. “We need an official iden- tification number for that cow, that’s unique to that cow,” Jo- seph said. “The most efficient way to do that is with elec- tronic identification.” WSDA hasn’t made any formal proposals, but it’s also considering requiring all cat- tle in a public livestock mar- ket to have a radio tag before being presented for sale. An- other requirement could be requiring all female cattle to be fitted with a radio tag when 48-1/100
