#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS in Review, Biden Acts to Limit Non-Competes, NY HERO Act Model Safety Plans - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: Mandatory Vaccination, Tipped Worker Rule, and SCOTUS Rules Against Organized Labor - Employment Law This Week®
Managing a farm workforce can be a heavy lift. Agricultural employers must keep up with farm labor laws and workplace regulations that seem to constantly change, so we created this zero-waste resource for ag professionals and...more
California employers in the agriculture industry are facing challenges this spring after two major developments last month. First, new rules took effect requiring employers to provide a special written notice to H-2A...more
A federal judge in New York recently cast doubt on the validity of state laws that seek to restrict employer speech in connection with union organizing. In New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Inc. v. Letitia James,...more
In early 2020, Alco Harvesting, LLC hired Jesus Guzman, a citizen of Mexico, to perform agricultural work in Santa Maria under the H-2A visa program. The H-2A visa program allows employers to hire foreign nationals to engage...more
On June 1, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that berry distributors were not liable as “client-employers” of agricultural workers. The plaintiff agricultural workers...more
On Sept. 30, 2022, State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon announced that she has accepted the New York Farm Laborers Wage Board’s recommendation to lower the overtime threshold for agricultural workers from 60 hours down to...more
Eight months of legislative wrangling and dealmaking have come to an end as the California Legislature just wrapped up work for the year – and now employers across the Golden State turn their eyes to the governor’s office to...more
A new decision by the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board increases the stakes for employers who are found to have willfully misclassified its employees, as the Board deployed a powerful weapon in its arsenal for...more
Creating an agriculture overtime law is a top priority of democrats in the current 2022 legislative short session that began on February 1, 2022. The introduced bill, House Bill 4002, would impose a 40-hour overtime pay...more
This month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed course and held that the arbitration agreement signed by a H-2A temporary farm worker was valid and enforceable. This decision is instructive for California employers on...more
A west coast federal appeals court just opened the door for H-2A employers to enforce arbitration agreements in employment disputes even outside the context of a collective bargaining agreement. The Ninth Circuit Court of...more
In response to last year’s groundbreaking decision by the Washington State Supreme Court in Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy, Inc., the state legislature recently passed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5172 (SB5172),...more
When it comes to whether unions have a right to enter an employer’s premises over the employer’s objections, California’s law is the polar opposite of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the law in most other states....more
The plaintiff, an agricultural laborer, brought suit against his employer who, in turn, moved to compel arbitration based on the arbitration agreement in the parties’ employment contract. The plaintiff opposed, successfully...more
Though confined to the issue of overtime for farm laborers, a recent ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) serves as a warning to all employers about the pitfalls presented by the disparities between...more
Over two years ago, California passed the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, which required a modification of Industrial Welfare Commission Order No. 14-2001 ("Wage Order No. 14") to create a schedule...more
A federal appeals court just announced a sweeping change for agricultural employers that will make it easier for workers to bring discrimination claims against them under a joint employment theory. In last week’s EEOC v....more
California agricultural employers must be mindful of the federal, state, and local laws on the books, many of which pose traps for the unwary. Here are some of the most important employment and labor legal issues warranting...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: NIOSH has released a study on the safety and health hazards posed by marijuana growing farms. Of concern for employers are the risks for musculoskeletal disorders, as well as dermal contact exposure to...more