A Yakima County, Wash., orchard paid $500,000 to settle claims by the Department of Labor and Industries that it underpaid more than 400 workers over four years.

L&I will attempt to contact and distribute the money to 437 people who worked at RC Orchards and C&G Orchards between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2021.

L&I sued the two businesses, which share employees and are owned by Rene and Carmen Garcia, two years ago in Yakima Superior Court. The Garcias denied any pay violations, according to the settlement.

The Garicas’ son, Damen Garcia, said Monday the farm made missteps, but workers were not underpaid. A jury trial was scheduled for March, but his parents didn’t want to continue running up legal fees, he said.

“As far as we’re concerned, we settled because it was a matter of, How much are going to spend on lawyers?” he said.

“We could have spent another $500,000 on lawyer fees.”

RC Orchards produces apples, cherries and pears. G&C Orchards packs the fruit, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged workers were paid hourly wages when they should have been paid more lucrative piece-rates.

“Farmworkers do backbreaking work, and they deserve to be paid every dollar they earn,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who’s running for governor, said in a statement.

Damen Garcia said workers were paid for every dollar they earned. U.S. workers were paid piece-rates, but inexperienced seasonal foreign workers were better off being paid by the hour, he said. “They weren’t losing any money.”

The lawsuit also alleged that equipment at the packing shed broke down regularly, and workers were not paid for all the time they spent waiting for repairs to be made.

Garcia said workers were free to leave to leave the shed while equipment was being repaired, but acknowledged that the bus that took them to and from housing stayed at the shed.

“That was the downfall,” he said. “We should have provided them a ride back.”

The Garcias signed the settlement in March, which L&I announced in a press release July 12.

The settlement requires the Garcias to have their payroll records audited by an accountant every six months and to turn the audit over to L&I. The department is reviewing 2022 payroll records.

If L&I alleges more violations, the orchard will fight it, Damen Garcia said.

L&I will be responsible for contacting employees and calculating individual payouts. Unclaimed payments will go to the state and be considered abandoned after one year.

The department will not keep any of the $500,000 for expenses, L&I spokesman Matthew Erlich said.