Berry grower to pay $350K for manager assaults on employees columbian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from columbian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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February 22, 2021 1:22 PM Connor Sarles
Updated:
OLYMPIA, Wash. Great Columbia Berry Farms, a blueberry grower based out of Walla Walla County, has to pay $350,000 after one of its managers sexually harassed and raped employees for several years.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson made the announcement Monday, saying that one of the company’s managers, Jose Luis Contreras Ramirez, raped at least one worker and sexually harassed several women that worked under him at the farm. He would also threaten or fire these women if they spoke out against him.
This conduct happened between 2012 and 2019, ending with Contreras’ arrest for charges of sexual assault. The complaint against Great Columbia Berry Farms asserts that the company knew or had to have known of Contreras’ behavior, but did nothing to address or stop it.