Establishes the farmworkers' fair labor practices act

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 of the bill entitles the bill "The Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act."

Section 2 of the bill contains definitions for "farm employment," "farm employer," and "farm employee". Farm employers are direct farm employers or farm contractors. Farm employees exclude members of the farm employer's extended family; therefore the bill affects about 8,000 of the State's 35,000 farms.

Section 3 of the bill amends section 161 of the labor law to allow farmworkers 24 consecutive hours of rest each week and to provide for payment of overtime for working on the day of rest. It provides that a day at rest caused by inclement weather shall count as a weekly day of rest.

Section 4 of the bill strikes the farm-related exclusions from day of rest.

Section 5 of the bill provides for overtime pay under certain circumstances for hourly, some salaried, and piece rate workers. Most workers would be paid overtime after 60 hours in a week or for any hours in excess of 10. A worker could not refuse overtime hours without medical excuse except for the day of rest overtime hours. "Overtime hours" are defined as hours worked by a farm employee of more than ten hours in any day, sixty hours in a calendar week, or six days in a calendar week.

Section 6 of the bill provides that farm employers are not liable to pay unemployment insurance contributions to fund benefits for temporary visa workers that are ineligible to qualify for such benefits.

Section 7 of the bill empowers the Labor Commissioner to promulgate regulations.

Section 8 of the bill provides for New York State statutory disability coverage for farm employees who are not temporary visa workers that are by law seasonal workers.

Section 9 of the bill directs the Commissioner of the Department of Labor to report to the Governor and the Legislature within one year of the law taking effect on the feasibility and practicality of allowing farmworkers to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.

Section 10 is effective date.

Existing law

Section 161 of the labor law excludes farmworkers from the right to a day of rest. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. Section 213, excludes farm workers from the right to overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours a week. Section 674 of the labor law allows underage farmworkers to be paid less than the minimum wage rate.

Section 201(6) (A) of the workers' compensation law excludes farmworkers from the right to disability insurance.

Justification

Farmworkers perform essential services for New York's agricultural industry which ranks near the top nationally in dairy, apples, vegetables, grapes, floriculture and other products. Farm work is labor intensive that involves arduous tasks, exposure to pesticides, and long hours. Farmworkers frequently suffer physical injuries and illnesses in the course of their employment, often beyond that suffered by workers in other industries.

This bill is agriculture appropriate legislation that would end the vestiges of Jim Crow labor laws that excluded farm workers from the basic labor law protections of the FLSA and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Sadly, New York State Labor Law copied and enshrined these Federal labor discriminatory exclusions. Some eighty years later the stain of this discrimination still appears on our New York State law.

This framework would end the most egregious discrimination while taking into account the ways in which New York agriculture presents labor relations issues that have been dealt with sensitively in other major agricultural states. The prime argument for this bill is equality and worker dignity; but economic arguments must be taken seriously and addressed.

The industry in New York brings in about $5 billion in revenue and employs about one hundred thousand workers if seasonal and year round workers are counted. However, only one-quarter of New York's 35,000 farms actually hire workers. In other words, three-quarters of the state's farms rely only on household labor (USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Table 1. Historical Highlights: 2007 and Earlier Census Years (New York), 72). These farms are truly "family farms" and should not be subject to the full array of labor protections.

An industry of this size and importance deserves support and understanding from state government; that must be balanced against a need to offer farm workers labor protections like those offered all other New York workers who work in car washes, bodegas, gas stations

and other physically taxing lower wage occupations. This is not an attempt to treat farms as factories.

This legislation would end such exclusions for farm workers from basic labor rights such as the right to a day of rest in a week, a subminimum wage, the right to earn overtime pay, and the right to coverage under the New York State Temporary Disability Law. In each case these exclusions would be eliminated taking account of agricultural realities and industry peculiarities. After all, when talking about agriculture we are talking about the safeguarding of our food supply - a necessity of life.

Prior legislative history

2014 - died in Labor. 2013 - died in Rules.

Fiscal implications

Some increased enforcement costs in future years for the Department of Labor and the Workers Compensation Board.

Effective date

This act shall take effect April first of the year following enactment.