New York - Workers’ Rights

Definition of agricultural worker under state law:

• The term employment includes agricultural labor and farm labor, including all services performed in agricultural employment in connection with cultivating the soil or raising or harvesting agricultural commodities, such as raising, shearing, caring for, and managing livestock, poultry, or dairy, the measure said.

Wages and Overtime

Minimum Wage

• There is a state minimum wage law. (N.Y. LAB. LAW § 652)
• There are different wage rates based on employer size and geographic areas, including: New York City – Large employers; New York City – Small employers; Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties; and the remainder of state. (N.Y. LAB. LAW § 652(1)(a) – (b)).
• See: https://dol.ny.gov/minimum-wage-0
• The term employment includes agricultural labor and farm labor, including all services performed in agricultural employment in connection with cultivating the soil or raising or harvesting agricultural commodities, such as raising, shearing, caring for, and managing livestock, poultry, or dairy, the measure said.
• Effective Dec. 31, 2022, through Dec. 30, 2023, the state’s hourly minimum wage is:
  • $15 for employers in New York City, as well as Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.
  • The hourly minimum wage for the rest of the state is $14.20.
• Agricultural workers are covered by the state minimum wage. (N.Y. LAB. LAW § 673). There is a specific Act that protects the wages of farmworkers: Minimum Wage Standards and Protective Labor Practices for Farmworkers. (N.Y. LAB. LAW §§ 670 – 683) Additionally, the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (passed in 2019) altered the definition of “Employee” by removing “in labor on a farm” as an exception to employee. (N.Y. LAB. LAW § 651)

Overtime

• The Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (passed in 2019) grants overtime compensation for farmworkers at one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked over 60 hours in any calendar week, beginning in January 2020. (N.Y. LAB. LAW § 163-a)
• A 60-hour work week is established for New York farm workers, who must be paid an overtime premium of 1.5 times their regular pay rate for hours worked in excess of 60 in a week and for work on designated rest days under the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act.

State Enforcement Agency

New York State Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards

Website: https://labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/laborstandards/ls_ContactUs.shtm

Occupational Safety and Health

Workers’ Compensation

• Agricultural workers are covered by the state workers’ compensation law. (N.Y. WORKERS’ COMP. LAW § 3 (Group 14-b)).
• Beginning on January 1, 2020, pursuant to the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (passed in 2019), all farms, regardless of payroll and number of employees, will be required to obtain workers’ compensation coverage.

State Enforcement Agency:
New York Workers’ Compensation Board

Website: http://www.wcb.ny.gov/
Relevant Forms: http://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/Forms.jsp

Field Sanitation

• There is a state law regarding field sanitation. (N.Y. Lab. Law § 212-d)

State Enforcement Agency:
Department of Labor

Website: https://www.labor.ny.gov/home/

Pesticide Safety

• There is no state law regarding pesticide safety in agriculture.
• Suspected pesticide poisoning is a reportable illness for health care providers – https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2787/index.htm

State Enforcement Agency:
New York Department of Environmental Conservation

Website: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/298.html

Right to Join Unions and Collective Bargaining in Agriculture

• There is a judicial interpretation of a provision in the state constitution that grants farmworkers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation.
• NY Appellate Court recently held that the constitutional right to organize extended to farm laborers. Hernandez v. State of N.Y., 99 N.Y.S.3d 795 (2019)
• There is a state statute that grants farmworkers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation. (N.Y. Lab. Law § 701(2)(b) and § 702-b)
• Pursuant to the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (passed in 2019), beginning in January 2020, farmworkers will have the right to join and organize labor unions and to engage in collective bargaining with agricultural employers. 
• *Note: As of February 2020, certain provisions of the law are on hold as applicable to Family and Supervisory Employees, pursuant to a temporary restraining order in ongoing litigation. (See New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Inc. v. Cuomo, 2019 WL 7578367 (W.D. N.Y Dec. 31, 2019))

State Legal Services Organizations

Cornell Law School Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic
https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/Clinical-Programs/Farmworker-Legal-Assistance/index.cfm

Justice in Motion
http://www.globalworkers.org/

Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Farmworker Law Project
http://www.lasmny.org/

Worker Justice Center of New York, Inc.
https://www.wjcny.org/