Employment Rights
Farmworker Legal
Services wants to make sure you benefit fully from your employment. As a
farmworker, you have many legal protections. Please contact us if you
have any questions or if you think you have been treated unfairly.
Write down
your hours! You can protect yourself by writing down the hours
that each member of the family works every day. At the end of each work
day, write down the time that each worker (yourself, your spouse and
your children, if any) began working and the time each person quit
working for the day, as well as lunch and break times. If there is ever
a dispute about the wages owed, an accurate record of hours worked will
help prove your case.
Minimum wage:
Adult farmworkers must be paid at least $5.15 per hour. Even if you are
paid piece rate (for example, by the box or pound), your wages still
must be at least $5.15 per hour for all of the hours that you work each
week. (Children under 18 working on some small farms do not have to be
paid minimum wage.)
You must be
paid on time: You must be paid at least once a week within two days
after the end of the workweek. Each worker must be paid with a
separate paycheck -- even children. If you quit your job, you
must be paid within three days. If you are fired, you must be paid
within one working day.
Taxes: Your
boss must deduct taxes from your pay. Your boss cannot take any other
money out of your pay unless you agree in writing each pay day.
Child labor:
Children must be at least 12 years old to do field work. They must be at
least 16 to do dangerous work, like working with machinery. Children
under 16 cannot work during school hours.
Record of
hours: On larger farms, your boss must keep a record of the number
of hours you work each week, the amount you earn, the amount taken out
of your pay, and the number of pieces you picked (if you are paid by the
piece). The employer must keep separate records for each worker.
If you are
injured: If you are hurt on the job, tell your boss right away. If
you need medical care or miss more than one week of work because of an
injury on the job, your boss's insurance company must pay for medical
bills and lost wages.
Field toilets
and water: Your boss must provide drinking water, toilets, and a
place for you to wash your hands close to the field where you work.
Pesticides:
In farm labor you run the risk of frequent contact and exposure to
pesticides. If you have frequent contact with pesticides and begin to
feel discomfort such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, or rashes, consult
with a physician as soon as possible. Spraying people with
pesticides is against the law and should be reported immediately to
Farmworker Legal Services! The law requires farmers to warn
workers whenever they are going to work in a field that has been
sprayed.
