Ag News

Farmers receive tips and resources at Ag Labor Relations Forum

By Jay Stone, Georgia Farm Bureau

The 2024 Georgia Ag Labor Relations Forum, held Aug. 20 and 21 in Tifton, offered tips on a variety of labor-related topics, from recruitment of foreign laborers to wage and payroll requirements and worker safety practices. The event, held at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center, was organized by the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association and sponsored in part by Georgia Farm Bureau.

“It's our opportunity once a year to meet face-to-face because people like us who do care a lot about farming, we want it to be right and we love our workers,” said Courtney Griffin of Southern Valley Farms in Colquitt County. “We couldn't do what we do without our workers. “We're not here to hurt people or mistreat them. 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. Yes, there are bad players in the industry, but there's more of us that want to do a good job and are doing an excellent job.”

Recruiting challenges

Dan Chapman of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) reviewed some common mistakes that can cause problems for H-2A employers. WHD, Chapman said, urges employers who use H-2A laborers to comply with the program’s rules regarding recruitment, pay and expense reimbursement. WHD’s program includes outreach and education, providing technical assistance when employers request it, and, of course, enforcement.

Chapman emphasized that employers need to be aware of how the concept of corresponding employment applies on farms that use 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. The domestic workers are entitled to the same pay and benefits and must be hired according to the same standards as H-2A workers.

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 gave the example of a job listing that includes an experience requirement. If, for instance, the job listing includes experience driving a tractor as a requirement for employment, WHD might ask H-2A workers if they had experience driving a tractor before arriving for the job. If they say they’d never driven a tractor before, this could pose a problem if a corresponding employee has to meet that standard as a condition of employment.

“Those standards cannot be any more stringent for potentially U.S. applicants than the H-2A workers,” Chapman said.

Another requirement regularly overlooked is reimbursement for travel. Chapman said sometimes an H-2A employer will reimburse travel from the border consulate in the worker’s home country to the farm. They are also required to reimburse the workers for travel expenses from their home to the border consulate, including any taxi fares or overnight stays.

Preventing heat stress

OSHA Savannah area officials discussed heat safety and what to expect if an OSHA case officer comes to the farm for an inspection.

OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officer Deanna Bolduc noted that employers are required to have a heat injury and illness prevention program and gave some recommendations for prevention and response 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 included acclimatization, water intake, rest and use of the buddy system

Workers who have been out of work should be gradually advanced to 100% work capacity to allow them to acclimatize to conditions on the farm. Bolduc recommended starting them at 20% of full workload on the first day, then increasing the workload by 20% each following 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.

Risk factors for heat stress include low water consumption, heavy physical activity and direct sun exposure, various medical conditions, use of certain medications, alcohol use, drug use, physical fitness levels, and individual behaviors.

Bolduc encouraged employers to train workers on signs of heat stress. Signs of a medical emergency include abnormal thinking or speech seizures or loss of consciousness. Early warning signs include lack of sweating, dizziness and nausea.

When OSHA shows up

Bolduc also 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 basic steps. First is an opening conference, during which the OSHA case officer will gather information about the employer’s written heat injury prevention program and review the employers OSHA 300 logs used to 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 would sit down with the employer for a closing conference to eview what was observed and request documents.

Bolduc noted that 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.

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