Governor Signs Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act

July 22nd, 2019

Governor Cuomo this week signed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act. The bill will take effect on January 1, 2020 and includes the following provisions:

Grants collective bargaining rights to farm laborers;

Requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week;

Provides for 60-hour work week for farm workers;

Requires overtime rate at one and one-half times normal rate;

Makes provisions of unemployment insurance law applicable to farm laborers and reduces costs to farmers for ineligible workers (H-2A);

Ensures sanitary codes apply to all farm worker housing, regardless of the number of occupants;

Removes a payroll threshold for requiring farm labor employers to obtain workers’ compensation coverage;

Allows farm laborers to receive disability and Paid Family Leave benefits; and

Requires reporting of injuries to employers of farm laborers.

Governor Cuomo said:

“This new law is not just a great achievement in terms of the effect on the human condition, it’s also a milestone in the crusade for social justice. By signing this bill into law, 100,000 farmers and their families will have better lives and will finally have the same protections that other workers have enjoyed for over 80 years. This powerful and practical achievement is even more significant in the era of President Trump who continually diminishes workers’ rights, attacks labor unions, disrespects the disenfranchised and has made divide and conquer, rather than unify and grow, the credo of America.”

Grow New York Farms statement on the signing of the bill:

“For months, hundreds of farmers and farmworkers spent countless hours seeking to find a balance with elected officials on measures that will change working conditions on farms across New York State. However, the measure that ultimately passed the Legislature and was signed by the Governor on July 17 did not address the challenges and needs of farmers and farmworkers.

“This measure does not create a path that will assure an economically viable New York agriculture industry, and the four fixable flaws within this bill will likely drive more family-owned farms out of the state or out of business. Worst of all, farmworkers will feel the impacts the most because their work hours will be restricted and their income reduced.

Grow NY Farms has been seeking to correct four fundamental flaws contained in the new legislation (Assembly Bill No. 8419 and Senate Bill No. 6578). Modifications include:

Applying a standard wage rate for farmworkers who decide to work on the prescribed day of rest.

Expanding the family farm definition to include close relatives such as aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Modifying the composition and timeline of the wage board.

Preserving secret balloting for both farmworkers and farmers.”