News & Analysis as of

Employer Liability Issues Agricultural Sector

Fisher Phillips

FP Snapshot on Agriculture: How Federal OSHA’s Proposed Heat Safety Rule Impacts Your Industry

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Welcome to FP Snapshot on Agriculture, where we take a quick look at a recent significant workplace law development with an emphasis on how it impacts employers in the agricultural industry. This edition focuses on the...more

Williams Mullen

Hotter Than Blue Blazes! OSHA Issues New Heat Hazard Rules for Companies Operating Outdoor and Indoor Workplaces

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a Proposed Rule that could expose employers to liability when employees suffer heat illnesses in outdoor or indoor workplaces. This Rule will affect...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Budding Issues? The Fading Smoke of One Union at a Cannabis Workplace in Massachusetts

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Seyfarth Synopsis: Employees at a Cresco Labs cannabis cultivation facility in Massachusetts recently made an unexpected and significant decision: they chose to say goodbye to their union membership just shy of their first...more

Fisher Phillips

Labor Issues In Full Bloom This Spring for California Agriculture Employers: Here’s What You Need to Know

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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

Littler

New York District Court Enjoins Enforcement of Law Limiting Employer Speech During Organizing Campaigns

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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

CDF Labor Law LLP

Failure to Disclose Arbitration Agreement In Visa Petition May Nullify Agreement

CDF Labor Law LLP on

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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

The U.S. Department of Labor Provides Guidance for Agricultural Employers on the PUMP Act

As previously discussed here, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP”) was signed into law on December 29, 2022. PUMP further amends the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) by extending...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Ninth Circuit Clarifies Standard for “Client Employer” Liability

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

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

What Else Happened During COVID: A Recap of Non-COVID-Related Employment Law Changes in Oregon Since 2020

In early 2020, most businesses found themselves unexpectedly pivoting their focus to unprecedented operational, workforce, supply chain, and legal changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses have had to...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

New York Lowers Overtime Threshold for Agricultural Workers

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

Fisher Phillips

Top 10 List – Keep Your Eyes on These California Employment Bills on Governor Newsom’s Desk

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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

Fisher Phillips

First, But Certainly Not the Last: California Agricultural Labor Relations Board Issues First-Ever Additional Penalties to...

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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

Roetzel & Andress

U.S. Supreme Court Expands Definition of What Constitutes a Physical Taking

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In a boon to property owners, the U.S. Supreme Court recently expanded the definition of what constitutes a physical taking (one that takes possession of property away from its owner) by including what many practitioners...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

HB 4002: Oregon Agriculture Overtime

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

Miller Nash LLP

Finally, a Break! The Ninth Circuit Rules for California Employers on Arbitration Agreements

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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

Fisher Phillips

In a Win for Agricultural Employers, Federal Appeals Court Gives Green Light To H-2A Laborer Arbitration Agreements

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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

Perkins Coie

New Overtime Requirements for Washington Agricultural Workers

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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

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

SCOTUS to Consider Whether California Unconstitutionally “Takes” Private Property When It Compels Agricultural Employers to Grant...

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

Jackson Lewis P.C.

New California Workplace Safety Standards For Nighttime Agricultural Workers

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California has adopted the first nighttime work safety standards in the nation which apply to agricultural workers who harvest, operate vehicles, and other tasks between sunset and sunrise. The new safety standards are...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

New York State Issues Guidance for Re-Opening of Businesses

New York State has issued detailed guidance on Governor Cuomo’s “New York Forward” Plan, under which the State will re-open in four phases on a regional basis. The guidance includes additional information regarding: (1) when...more

Carlton Fields

California Court Finds Arbitration Agreement Invalid and Unenforceable as a Result of Economic Duress and Undue Influence

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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

Rumberger | Kirk

A Win for Cannabis Industry Workers

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On September 20, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in Robert Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc. that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) applies to workers in the cannabis industry. This is a...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

What Is CBD Oil and Why Should Employers Care to Know?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a nonintoxicating compound found in both marijuana and hemp that can be extracted and combined with oil for ingestion or inhalation through the use of a vaporizer. In recent months, retailers in many...more

Conn Kavanaugh

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Ruling on Farming Overtime Pay is a Cautionary Tale for All Employers

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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

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

California's Agricultural Employee Overtime Phase-In Thresholds Are Now in Effect

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

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