3 Oregon hemp businesses accused of mistreating seasonal workers

Three Oregon hemp companies are being sued by more than a dozen seasonal workers who say the businesses required them to sleep on dirty floors and use the bathroom outside.

Those are among the health-and-safety violations alleged in a lawsuit filed by 17 migrant workers suing West Coast Growers, Topshelf Hemp and Fire Hemp, all managed by the same man in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Among the workers’ charges:

  • The companies withheld wages and required them to work without lunch or rest breaks during the 2020 harvest.
  • They had to share a trailer with a single bed.
  • They were lodged in an “abandoned, dilapidated, and unsafe” empty house without heat or running water.
  • They shared an outdoor portable toilet that wasn’t emptied.

The workers seek unpaid wages and a court order blocking the hemp companies from housing migrant workers.

The hemp companies have not responded to the lawsuit.

Law360 first reported the lawsuit.