Agriculture + Lifestyle
Navigating the ag labor process
by Jay Stone
News Reporter
Posted on December 10, 2024 4:10 AM
istock/laughingmango
Somebody has to do the work - a reality farmers know all too well. It’s a simple concept, but its execution is anything but. Recruitment, worker safety, payroll and interacting with government regulators all come with significant challenges.
At the 2024 Georgia Ag Labor Relations Forum, hosted by the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association in August in Tifton, farmers and agricultural stakeholders heard information to help with labor management.
“We couldn't do what we do without our workers,” said Courtney Griffin of Southern Valley Farms in Colquitt County. “We want it to be good for them because giving them good conditions and them being healthy increases our production on the farm and it brings in more revenue for us, to where the business is sustainable.”
Recruiting challenges
Dan Chapman of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) reviewed common mistakes that can cause problems for H-2A employers. WHD does outreach/education, technical assistance, and law enforcement.
WHD, Chapman said, urges employers who use H-2A laborers to comply with the program’s rules regarding recruitment, pay and expense reimbursement.
Chapman emphasized how the concept of corresponding employment applies on farms using H-2A laborers. Corresponding employment refers to non H-2A workers who are hired for the same job functions and on the same work contract as H-2A workers. U.S. workers are entitled to the same pay and benefits as H-2A workers and must be hired according to the same standards.
For example, “if you offer an end-of-season bonus to your H-2A workers, you’ve got to make sure that you're offering at least that same bonus in the same terms to workers who are in corresponding employment,” Chapman said.
Chapman discussed job listings that include an experience requirement. If the job listing includes experience driving a tractor as a requirement for employment, WHD might ask H-2A workers if they had tractor-driving experience before being hired. If they say they’d never driven a tractor before, this could be a problem if a corresponding employee must meet that standard.
“Those standards cannot be any more stringent for potential U.S. applicants than for the H-2A workers,” Chapman said.
Travel reimbursement is another requirement often overlooked. Chapman said sometimes an H-2A employer will reimburse travel from the border consulate in the worker’s home country to the farm. They must also reimburse the workers for travel expenses from their home to the border consulate, including any taxi fares or overnight stays.=
Preventing heat stress
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OHSA) Compliance Safety & Health Officer Deanna Bolduc discussed heat safety and what to expect if an OSHA case officer inspects a farm.
Bolduc said employers are required to have a heat injury and illness prevention program and gave recommendations to prevent and respond to heat stress incidents.
“As an employer, there's a legal and moral responsibility not to assign work in high heat conditions without protections in place for workers,” Bolduc said.
Protections Bolduc covered were acclimatization, water intake, rest and using the buddy system.
Workers who have been out of work should be gradually acclimatized to 100% work capacity to allow them to adjust to farm conditions. Bolduc recommended starting workers at 20% of full workload on the first day, then increasing the workload by 20% each day until they reach 100%.
Bolduc said OSHA recommends workers drink a cup of water every 15 minutes and take breaks in shaded or cooler areas to rest and recover from the heat. She encouraged employers to use the “buddy system,” where employees check in on each other and look for signs of heat injury or illness.
“If one of them experiences [heat stress], their buddy would be able to notify a supervisor,” Bolduc said.
Heat stress risk factors include low water consumption, heavy physical activity, direct sun exposure, various medical conditions, use of some medications, alcohol/drug use, physical fitness levels, and individual behaviors.
Bolduc encouraged employers to train workers on signs of heat stress. Early warning signs include lack of sweating, dizziness and nausea. Signs of a medical emergency include abnormal thinking, speech seizures or loss of consciousness.
When OSHA shows up
Bolduc walked forum attendees through the steps the agency follows when it conducts an on-site inspection.
Inspections are generally triggered in one of three ways: from a complaint, a referral from a medical provider when a worker has been hospitalized or based on injury data.
An on-site OSHA inspection has four steps. In the opening conference, the OSHA case officer will gather information about the employer’s written heat injury prevention program and review the employer’s OSHA 300 logs that record employee injuries or illnesses.
Then, the case officer conducts a walk-around review of the job site where the incident occurred, followed by confidential interviews with employees and interviews with employer representatives.
Finally, the case officer holds a closing conference with the employer to review what was observed and request documents.
Bolduc said an inspection can be expanded if, for instance, the initial reason for the inspection is heat-related and the case officer finds other types of safety issues.