A federal judge heard arguments Aug. 4 about whether to allow the grievances of two farmworkers against an Eastern Washington fruit grower to balloon into a class-action lawsuit involving 1,135 workers.

The suit, filed by Columbia Legal Services, alleges that Mexico residents Gilberto Gomez Garcia and Jonathan Gomez Rivera were mistreated in 2017 by Stemilt Ag Services.

Columbia Legal Services is asking U.S. District Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. in Richland to certify that Garcia and Rivera can represent other allegedly wronged H-2A visa workers employed that year in 36 orchards owned or operated by Stemilt.

H-2A guestworkers are foreign nationals who come to the U.S. on a temporary basis to work in agriculture.

Stemilt’s attorney, Brendan Monahan, said Garcia and Rivera would be poor representatives for more than a thousand other farmworkers “who don’t know we’re in a courtroom today.”

Rivera was a “remarkably slow worker,” while Garcia courted insubordination by encouraging other apple pickers to slow down, Monahan said.

Both abandoned their jobs at Stemilt and sought work elsewhere, violating their visas, he said.

“What we haven’t talked about yet is the plaintiffs’ obligation,” Monahan said.

The suit alleges discrimination, human trafficking, breach of contract and violations of Washington’s Farm Labor Contractors Act. Expanding the case into a class-action lawsuit would increase potential penalties if Stemilt is found guilty.

The lawsuit accuses Stemilt managers of unlawfully introducing a minimum production standard and threatening to fire and “blacklist” H-2A workers who didn’t pick fast enough.

Workers also had to wait on buses for up to an hour without being paid, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit also alleges Stemilt failed to fully disclose the terms of employment.

Stemilt denies the allegations. Monahan acknowledged isolated problems at some Stemilt orchards, but said that the problems were not typical.

Stemilt had a contractual right to expect workers to make a sustained effort, but never had an ironclad three-bin-a-day policy across all orchards, he said.

Columbia Legal Services attorney Maria Diana Garcia argued that declarations from other workers show that Rivera and Garcia’s experiences were representative.

According to court records, Rivera is a delivery driver in Mexico, who saw an ad in 2017 recruiting farmworkers to the U.S. Garcia, an electrician, had previously picked for Stemilt.

Both said in court declarations that they sought work in the U.S. because they couldn’t earn enough money in Mexico to support their families.

Rivera stated that the pace was stressful and that he consumed energy drinks and multivitamins to keep up. He said he received a warning for low production, and a manager “told me the company would help me and had two people watch how I picked apples.”

Rivera said that he started working for Stemilt in early April. In August, he chose to stay at Stemilt on a second contract. Toward the end of October, the pressure to meet production standards was too much to continue working, he stated.

Garcia worked for Stemilt in 2008 and 2009 and again between 2012 and 2017, according to court records. Garcia stated there was more pressure in 2017 than in previous years.

Like Rivera, Garcia stated that he started working in early April and by late October it was impossible to continue.

In court records, Stemilt alleged that Rivera and Garcia left Stemilt and “by means of conceit” sought a job with another employer.

Stemilt said it doesn’t “blacklist” workers and doesn’t know of any agricultural employer who does.