Protect Farmworkers' Labor Rights

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "farm laborers fair labor practices act".

§ 2. Legislative findings and intent. 1. The legislature finds that agriculture is one of New York's leading and most important industries, resulting in over $5 billion annually and making New York a global leader in many crops and agricultural products. Agriculture plays an essential role in the continued economic growth and vitality of New York state. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's 2017 Agricultural Census, 98% of New York's farms are family owned and these farms contributed $2.4 billion to the state's GDP in 2017.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD12035-01-9

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2. The legislature further finds that the success of New York's robust agriculture industry is due to the collaborative work between farmers and farm laborers. However, farm laborers are one of the few classes of employees that are not covered by the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), denying these valuable employees the same basic labor protections and the right to collective bargaining that almost all other private sector workers enjoy. Despite regularly working 50, 60, 70 or even more hours a week doing arduous and difficult work, often with heavy equipment, pesticides, fertilizers and other dangerous materials and in sometimes hazardous situations, farm laborers remain excluded from collective bargaining statutes and the right to a day of rest, overtime and other labor protections that are in place at the state and/or federal level for other workers.

3. The legislature further finds that this industry is subject to unique and unpredictable factors including climate and weather, pricing and market requirements, seasonal harvests, immigration, and various federal and state laws, rules and regulations that directly impact farmers and require a unique balance and application of traditional labor protections to ensure farm laborers have a voice in their own terms and conditions of employment and access to basic labor protections while also creating adaptability and responsiveness to the unique circumstances of farm operations.

4. The legislature further finds that the labor standards included in this bill are intended solely for the purposes of transitioning into a modern structure of rights and benefits for farm laborers that achieve harmonious labor relations and stability of operations in the agricultural industry and are not intended for any other industry or sector of the economy.

§ 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 701 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 43 of the laws of 1989, is amended and a new paragraph (c) is added to read as follows:

(a) The term "employees" includes but is not restricted to any individual employed by a labor organization; any individual whose employment has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment; and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer, unless the article explicitly states otherwise, but shall not include any individual employed by his parent or spouse or in the domestic service of and directly employed, controlled and paid by any person in his home, any individual whose primary responsibility is the care of a minor child or children and/or someone who lives in the home of a person for the purpose of serving as a companion to a sick, convalescing or elderly person or any individuals employed only for the duration of a labor dispute, [or any individuals employed as farm laborers] or[,] any individual who participates in and receives rehabilitative or therapeutic services in a charitable non-profit rehabilitation facility or sheltered workshop or any individual employed in a charitable non-profit rehabilitation facility or sheltered workshop who has received rehabilitative or therapeutic services and whose capacity to perform the work for which he is engaged is substantially impaired by physical or mental deficiency or injury.

(c) The term "employee" shall also include farm laborers. "Farm laborers" shall mean any individual engaged or permitted by an employer to work on a farm, except the parent, spouse, child, or other member of the employer's immediate family.

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§ 4. Subdivision 1 of section 161 of the labor law is amended by adding a new undesignated paragraph to read as follows:

Every person employed as a farm laborer shall be allowed at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each and every calendar week. This requirement shall not apply to the parent, child, spouse or other member of the employer's immediate family. Twenty-four consecutive hours spent at rest because of circumstances, such as weather or crop conditions, shall be deemed to constitute the rest required by this paragraph. No provision of this paragraph shall prohibit a farm laborer from voluntarily agreeing to work on such day of rest required by this paragraph, provided that the farm laborer is compensated at an overtime rate which is at least one and one-half times the laborer's regular rate of pay for all hours worked on such day of rest. The term "farm labor" shall include all services performed in agricultural employment in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting of agricultural commodities, including the raising, shearing, caring for and management of livestock, poultry or dairy. The day of rest authorized under this subdivision should, whenever possible, coincide with the traditional day reserved by the farm laborer for religious worship.

§ 5. Paragraphs b and d of subdivision 2 of section 161 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 281 of the laws of 1941, are amended to read as follows:

b. Employees in [dairies, creameries,] milk condenseries, milk powder factories, milk sugar factories, milk shipping stations, butter and cheese factories, ice cream manufacturing plants and milk bottling plants, where not more than seven persons are employed;

d. Employees whose duties include not more than three hours' work on Sunday in setting sponges in bakeries, [caring for live animals,] maintaining fires, or making necessary repairs to boilers or machinery.

§ 6. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 163-a to read as follows:

§ 163-a. Farm laborers. No person or corporation operating a farm shall require any employee to work more than sixty hours in any calendar week; provided, however, that any overtime work performed by a farm laborer shall be at a rate which is at least one and one-half times the laborer's regular rate of pay. No wage order subject to the provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to a farm laborer other than a wage order established pursuant to section six hundred seventy-four or six hundred seventy-four-a of this chapter.

§ 7. The opening paragraph of paragraph (a) of subdivision 6 of section 511 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 675 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:

The term "employment" [does not include] includes agricultural labor [unless it is covered pursuant to section five hundred sixty-four]. The term "agricultural labor" includes all service performed:

§ 8. Section 564 of the labor law, as added by chapter 675 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:

§ 564. Agricultural labor crew leaders. [1. Coverage. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section five hundred sixty of this article, an employer of persons engaged in agricultural labor shall become liable for contributions under this article if the employer:

(1) has paid cash remuneration of twenty thousand dollars or more in any calendar quarter to persons employed in agricultural labor, and such liability shall commence on the first day of such quarter, or

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(2) has employed in agricultural labor ten or more persons on each of twenty days during a calendar year or the preceding calendar year, each day being in a different calendar week, and the liability shall in such event commence on the first day of the calendar year, or

(3) is liable for the tax imposed under the federal unemployment tax act as an employer of agricultural labor and the liability shall in such event commence on the first day of the calendar quarter in such calendar year when he first paid remuneration for agricultural labor in this state.

(b) An employer who becomes liable for contributions under paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall cease to be liable as of the first day of a calendar quarter next following the filing of a written application provided the commissioner finds that the employer:

(1) has not paid to persons employed in agricultural labor cash remuneration of twenty thousand dollars or more in any of the eight calendar quarters preceding such day, and

(2) has not employed in agricultural labor ten or more persons on each of twenty days during the current or the preceding calendar year, each day being in a different week, and

(3) is not liable for the tax imposed under the federal unemployment tax act as an employer of agricultural labor.

2. Crew leader.] Whenever a person renders services as a member of a crew which is paid and furnished by the crew leader to perform services in agricultural labor for another employer, such other employer shall, for the purpose of this article, be deemed to be the employer of such person, unless:

[(a)] 1. the crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the federal farm labor contractor registration act of nineteen hundred sixty-three or substantially all the members of the crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or [cropdusting] crop dusting machinery or any other mechanized equipment which is provided by the crew leader, and

[(b)] 2. the crew leader is not an employee of such other employer and has not entered into a written agreement with such employer under which he is designated as an employee.

§ 9. Paragraph (m) of subdivision 5 of section 225 of the public health law, as amended by section 51 of part A of chapter 58 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:

(m) require that application be made for a permit to operate a farm or food processing labor camp as defined in the sanitary code; authorize appropriate officers or agencies to issue such a permit when the applicant is in compliance with the established regulations; prescribe standards for living quarters at farm and food processing labor camps, including provisions for sanitary conditions; light, air, and safety; protection from fire hazards; maintenance; and such other matters as may be appropriate for security of life or health, provided however, that the provisions of the sanitary code established pursuant to the provisions hereof shall apply to all farm and food processing labor camps intended to house migrant workers and which are occupied [by five or more persons]. In the preparation of such regulations, the public health and health planning council may request and shall receive technical assistance from the board of standards and appeals of the state department of labor and the state building code commission. Such regulation shall be enforced in the same manner as are other provisions of the sanitary code;

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§ 10. Groups 14-a and 14-b of subdivision 1 of section 3 of the workers' compensation law, Group 14-a as amended by chapter 233 of the laws of 1961 and Group 14-b as added by chapter 646 of the laws of 1966, are amended to read as follows:

Group 14-a. On and after January first, nineteen hundred sixty-two, any other employment in a trade, business, or occupation carried on by the employer for pecuniary gain in which one or more employees [other than farm laborers] are employed.

Group 14-b. Employment as a farm laborer as provided herein. A farmer shall provide coverage under this chapter for all farm laborers [employed during any part of the twelve consecutive months beginning April first of any calendar year preceded by a calendar year in which the cash remuneration paid to all farm laborers aggregated twelve hundred dollars or more].

§ 11. Section 51 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 561 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows: