Also known as: agricultural employers
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who owns or operates a farm, ranch, processing establishment, cannery, gin, packing shed, or nursery, or who produces or conditions seed, and who recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, or transports any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker. The definition imposes duties to disclose employment terms, maintain wage records, and provide itemized statements to workers.
Kimberly owns and operates a 200-acre commercial greenhouse and orchard facility where seasonal workers harvest produce. State regulations allow union organizers to enter non-public growing areas for up to three hours each week during the harvest season. The recurring entries appropriate Kimberly's right to exclude others from the property, requiring just compensation under the Takings Clause.
Ricketts worked on the Vanns' farm harvesting crops under arrangements with the Bunches and the Flakes. He sued the Vanns and Bunches for failing to provide required wage statements and housing disclosures. The court examined whether the Vanns qualified as agricultural employers because the work followed the usual path of employment and Ricketts was economically dependent on them for his livelihood.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
An agricultural employer must disclose employment terms in writing at recruitment, post required notices, maintain wage records, and provide itemized wage statements to each worker. These obligations apply directly to growers and farm labor contractors who meet the statutory definition.
Supporting sources
Yes. If a worker is economically dependent on both the agricultural employer and the contractor as a matter of economic reality, joint employment exists even when the contractor is an independent entity. Courts examine whether the work follows the usual path of employment and whether the employer controls hiring or working conditions.
Supporting sources
Yes. A regulation authorizing union organizers to enter agricultural employers' property on an intermittent but recurring basis appropriates the right to exclude and amounts to a per se physical taking requiring just compensation.