AGO secures settlement for WA farm workers

$1 million available to workers impacted by Cornerstone’s alleged discrimination against Washington farm workers and women

TOPPENISH, WA (March 10, 2026) — Dozens of farmworkers are eligible for compensation under a settlement and consent decree reached between the Washington Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Toppenish-based Cornerstone Ranches. The million dollar settlement is part of a consent decree Cornerstone entered into with the AGO in December of 2025 to resolve allegations of discriminatory labor practices brought forth by Attorney General Nick Brown in June of 2025. in a lawsuit by targeting local farmworkers and women in favor of foreign, male H-2A workers.

Those allegations include that Cornerstone held local workers to unfair labor standards not applied to H-2A workers, and fired local workers if they failed to meet those standards. The suit also alleged that Cornerstone regularly reduced local workers’ hours while H2A workers continued to work. Per the AGO, many of the local workers Cornerstone fired were women; all of the H2A workers hired to replace them were men.

In filing the suit, AG Brown noted that Cornerstone doubled the number of H-2A workers that it hired from 2021 to 2023, even as the company told local workers that no work was available.

The H-2A program is intended to bring temporary workers into the U.S. to fill short-term labor shortages. It’s a program with ample opportunity for worker exploitation, particularly as the Trump administration weakens wage standards that threaten a race to the bottom in compensation for all farmworkers.

“It’s a good day when you can return money to farmworkers who suffered discrimination and unfair treatment,” said Attorney General Nick Brown in December, announcing the consent decree. “I’m grateful to our team for negotiating a strong settlement that will set a standard for future enforcement in similar cases.”

The settlement with Cornerstone is the most recent of several cases in recent years where Washington agricultural employers have agreed to conditions to settle allegations of discrimination against local workers and women. Shinn & Son, also of Toppenish, reached a $300,ooo settlement in December and King Fuji Ranch in Richland reached settlement on a similar lawsuit in April of 2025.

In 2023, then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson secured a $2.3 million settlement for nearly 200 farmworkers at Ostrom Mushroom Farms (now Windmill Farms) over similar allegations of discrimination against women and local workers, as well as posting deception job notices. These and other discriminatory practices spurred an organizing drive by mushroom workers. Workers’ push for a union continues today, with a boycott of Windmill Farms mushrooms across the Pacific Northwest in support of the workers.

Farmworkers employed at Cornerstone Ranches and affiliates Cornerstone Orchards and Cornerstone Farm Management between January 2021 and December 2025 are encouraged to contact the Attorney General Office’s Civil Rights Division by emailing cornerstone@atg.wa.gov or by calling 1-833-660-4877 and selecting Option 6.