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Pennsylvania Farm Labor Laws

The Pennsylvania farm labor laws are found in 3 P.S. § 1901 through 3 P.S. § 1915, and 43 P.S. § 1301.101 through 43 P.S. § 1301.606.  Pursuant to 3 P.S. § 1903, the secretary shall appoint the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Advisory Board to make recommendations for and monitor farm safety and occupational health programs.  3 P.S. § 1907 provides that the secretary shall make such appointments within 60 days of the effective date of this act.  The secretary shall cause to be included in the department’s annual statistical survey of agricultural production activities in this Commonwealth mechanisms to assess the nature and frequency of farm accidents and, if determined by the secretary to be feasible, the nature and frequency of occupational injuries and diseases of the type or category which is compensable under the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L. 736, No. 338), known as the Workers’ Compensation Act.  The secretary may seek the advice and assistance of the Secretary of Health to develop such mechanisms for the collection of farm safety and occupational health statistics and for the compilation and analysis of such statistics.  The secretary shall compile and analyze statistical data on all cases of farm accidents and occupational injuries and diseases collected in the department’s annual survey pursuant to subsection (a) and shall make summaries of the data available to Federal and State agencies and to the public for purposes of public education and promotion of farm safety and occupational health.  The secretary shall ensure that the data is compiled and disseminated in a manner which is anonymous and does not involuntarily identify or otherwise violate the right of privacy of any affected person.

The secretary, pursuant to the authority granted to him under the act of July 8, 1986 (P.L. 437, No. 92), known as the Pennsylvania Agricultural Fair Act, and with the advice and assistance of the advisory committee created under that act, may make grants under that act to eligible county agricultural societies, independent agricultural societies, statewide agricultural organizations and agriculture and rural youth organizations which hold agricultural fairs or agricultural activity days.  Such grants shall assist with the costs, in whole or in part, of conducting farm safety demonstrations or other farm safety projects at such agricultural fairs or activity days.  The secretary, with the advice and assistance of the advisory committee created under the Pennsylvania Agricultural Fair Act, shall develop eligibility criteria to govern the awarding of agricultural fair grants for farm safety demonstrations and other farm safety projects conducted at agricultural fairs or agricultural activity days[i].

In Seasonal Farm Labor Act, it is declared to be the intent of the Legislature by this act to improve the conditions of seasonal farm workers by establishing standards for their wages, hours, conditions of work, housing, sanitation, food facilities, fire protection and safety; by requiring permits for the operation and occupancy of seasonal farm labor camps; by making unlawful the practices by which such workers may be isolated from the community and from services to which they are by law entitled; and by limiting child labor among such workers[ii].  43 P.S. § 1301.201 provides that except as may otherwise be provided, every employer of seasonal farm labor shall pay to each seasonal farm worker wages at a rate which is as great or greater than the minimum hourly wage rate in force under the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L. 11, No. 5), known as “The Minimum Wage Act of 1968,” at the time payment is due to the seasonal farm worker.  Such wages shall be paid at such rates notwithstanding any contrary provision or exclusion in The Minimum Wage Act of 1968, relating to labor on a farm.  No employer shall be required to pay wages at a rate greater than that provided for in subsection (a) even if the number of hours worked by any seasonal farm worker in any one workweek exceeds 40 hours.

Pursuant to 43 P.S. § 1301.203, no minor under 14 years of age shall be required to work, or penalized for failure to work, as a seasonal farm worker, except that this subsection shall not apply to any member of an employer’s immediate family.  Every minor from the ages of 14 to 17 years inclusive, who is employed or permitted to work as a seasonal farm worker, every employer of such minor, and every school district wherein such minor is so employed, shall be subject to the provisions of the act of May 13, 1915 (P.L. 286, No. 177), known as the “Child Labor Law,” and to the provisions of the act of June 23, 1931 (P.L. 923, No. 309) (relating to child labor), except that no such minor shall be employed between the hours of seven o’clock in the morning and one hour following the end of the school day or any regular school day of the school district wherein s/he is then a resident, whether or not such minor is registered as a pupil in such school district.

43 P.S. § 1301.207 provides that no seasonal farm worker shall be required to work or be penalized for failure to work on any premises for more than six days in any one week, or more than 48 hours in any one week, or more than ten hours in any one day.  Whenever any seasonal farm workers shall be employed or permitted to work on the premises of more than one employer in any one week or in any one day, the aggregate number of hours during which s/he shall be required to work on all such premises shall not exceed 48 in any one week or ten in any one day.  No seasonal farm worker shall be required to work for more than five hours continuously on any premises without a meal or rest period of at least 30 minutes, which period shall not be considered a part of the hours of labor, and no period of less than 30 minutes shall be deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work.

Pursuant to 43 P.S. § 1301.301, the Environmental Quality Board, subject to the provisions for receipt of prior comment from the Seasonal Farm Labor Committee established in subsection (b), shall adopt, amend and repeal such rules and regulations as it deems necessary or appropriate to assure safe or healthful employment and places of employment, to provide safe, healthful and sanitary seasonal farm labor camps, including standards for housing, sanitation, food facilities, fire protection and safety, and to establish criteria for carrying out the functions of the Department of Environmental Resources under this act.  The Seasonal Farm Labor Committee shall submit comments on existing rules and regulations to the secretary and the Environmental Quality Board.  There is hereby established in the Department of Environmental Resources a Seasonal Farm Labor Committee consisting of the Secretary of Environmental Resources or his/her designee, who shall be chairman, the Secretary of Agriculture or his/her designee, the Secretary of Labor and Industry or his/her designee, the Secretary of Health or his/her designee and six persons appointed by the Governor for terms of four years, three of whom shall be selected from lists submitted by employer organizations and shall be employers of seasonal farm laborers or persons with experience in using seasonal farm labor for agricultural purposes, and three of whom shall be representatives of Statewide organizations or agencies actively engaged in the welfare of seasonal farm workers.  Of the members first appointed, one shall serve one year, one shall serve two years, two shall serve three years and two shall serve four years.  The public members shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in performing their duties under this section.  The Environmental Quality Board shall have no power to adopt rules or regulations for seasonal farm labor or seasonal farm labor camps until receipt of written comments on the proposed rules or regulations from the Seasonal Farm Labor Committee, or until 60 days have expired from the date when such rules and regulations were submitted by the secretary to the committee for their comments.  Existing rules and regulations shall continue until modified, superseded or repealed by the Environmental Quality Board under this section.

43 P.S. § 1301.501 provides that no person shall act as a farm labor contractor unless s/he possesses or has applied for a certificate of registration issued by the secretary.  A certificate of registration may not be transferred or assigned.  Every certificate shall be effective until 12 midnight of December 31 of the year during which it is issued, unless suspended or revoked pursuant to this act.  The certificate of registration shall be displayed by the registrant upon request of the Secretary of Labor and Industry, the Secretary of Environmental Resources, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health, the Secretary of Education, or the Secretary of Public Welfare, or their authorized representatives; or of any peace officer, or of any person who is a contractor or a prospective contractor for farm labor services, or any seasonal farm worker or prospective seasonal farm worker; or of an employer or a prospective employer of seasonal farm labor, or of any qualified officer of the United States or of any local government.  The provisions of subsection (a) to the contrary notwithstanding, if an employee of an individual farmer, grower, nurseryman, or landowner engages in the activities of a farm labor contractor on an emergency basis solely for the benefit of his/her employer’s operation, s/he may apply for a certificate of registration from the secretary after having engaged in such activity.

No person engaged in activities as a farm labor contractor, and no person acting as an agent for any such person, shall:

(1)   knowingly give or represent to any person who is a seasonal farm worker or a prospective seasonal farm worker any false or misleading information, or fail fully to disclose to any such person pertinent information concerning terms of employment, wages to be paid and the terms and conditions under which wages are to be paid, conditions of employment, conditions of residence, arrangements for transportation, arrangements for providing or furnishing food, clothing, and other personal goods or services, or the demand for or existence of opportunity for employment, for the purpose of inducing such seasonal farm worker or prospective seasonal farm worker to accept or to reject any offer of employment, whether made by the farm labor contractor or his/her agent, or by another person;

(2)   violate any provision of, or fail to comply with every requirement of Public Law 88-582 (U.S.C. § 2041 et seq.), (7 U.S.C. § 2041 et seq.) known as the “Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963”;

(3) recruit, employ, utilize the services of, or enter into any agreement with, any person with knowledge that such person is in violation of any provision of the immigration and naturalization laws of the United States, or is a fugitive from justice in any state or under Federal statute;

(4) manufacture, transport, resell, dispense, or in any way engage in activities as a dealer of any liquor, wine, or any malt or brewed beverage, unless he shall have obtained a license or a permit pursuant to the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L. 90, No. 21), known as the “Liquor Code”; make, transport, purchase, sell, or dispense any drug or any controlled substance as defined by the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L. 221,No. 63), known as the “Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Abuse Control Act,” or by the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L. 233, No. 64), known as “The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act “; or violate any provision of the act of July 22, 1970 (P.L. 513, No. 178), known as the “Pennsylvania Cigarette Tax Act”;

(5) receive, accept, disburse, withhold, manage or administer, any wages, salaries, emoluments, or any other rewards of or payment for the time, labor or employment of any seasonal farm worker, except pursuant to section 206;

(6) levy, charge, assess, or collect from any person, on account of any loan of money, credit, goods, or things in action, a rate of interest, discount, fines, charges or consideration, unless he shall be in compliance with the provisions of the act of April 8, 1937 (P.L. 262, No. 66), known as the “Consumer Discount Company Act “;

(7) levy, charge, assess, or collect from any seasonal farm worker, whether or not recruited by him or under his supervision or direction, or under any contract or agreement with him, written or verbal, any money, goods or any other thing, for any service offered or performed, including the purchase and resale of any personal goods or services, except for:

(i) a reasonable charge for transportation of the seasonal farm worker and his relatives and their possessions from the place of their residence or recruitment to the premises of an employer of seasonal farm labor, or from the premises of one employer to those of another, and return to the place of their residence or recruitment; and

(ii) a reasonable charge for the preparation and serving of meals during the seasonal farm worker’s term of employment or transportation; or

(8) charge more than a reasonable amount for transportation of the seasonal farm worker and his relatives and their possessions from the place of their residence or recruitment to the premises of an employer of seasonal farm labor, or from the premises of one employer to those of another, and return to the place of their residence or recruitment, and for a reasonable amount for the preparation and serving of meals during the seasonal farm worker’s term of employment or transportation.  Such charge for transportation and for the preparation and serving of meals may be levied and collected only if the full amount of such charges is correctly stated and disclosed to the seasonal farm worker and agreed to by the seasonal farm worker at the time any contract or agreement of recruitment is negotiated, and such agreement as to charges for transportation and for the preparation and serving of meals shall be a part of any contract or agreement between the farm labor contractor and the seasonal farm laborer[iii].

[i] 3 P.S. § 1909.

[ii] 43 P.S. § 1301.102.

[iii] 43 P.S. § 1301.505.


Inside Pennsylvania Farm Labor Laws