Feb 24, 2012
Labor department is targeting farm employers

Growers know that your typical American doesn’t want to work on a farm, but that particular fact seems to have been missed by those who work at the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), according to Kurt Alstede.

Kurt runs Alstede Farms in Chester, N.J., with his wife, Barbara, and other family members. He spoke to an audience of fellow growers about labor regulations during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in December.

Alstede Farms, 45 miles west of New York City, is within an hour’s drive of more than 22 million people. It’s a diversified operation, raising small fruits, tree fruits, vegetables and ornamentals – about 250 different crops – on more than 500 acres. All of the farm’s output is sold retail, in a variety of ways. Retail sales are complemented by the farm’s agritourism activities and other value-added services, according to Kurt’s presentation.

Kurt has become somewhat of an expert on farm-labor issues, thanks to his 30 years of compliance and his experience with surprise on-farm inspections, he said. He employs more than 100 people each year. His workforce is a complex mix of local minors and adults, H-2A, H-2B, J-1, seasonal and migrant workers, hourly and salaried employees and family members.

Labor is one of a farm’s biggest expenses. When the farm is diversified the way Alstede Farms is – with production, direct marketing and agritourism components – it’s also one of the most complicated. The complications arise from the “matrix” of labor regulations farm employers are subject to, he said.

Kurt talked mostly about federal regulations and USDOL. He shared an important lesson he’s learned over the years: Better to understand the rules in advance than get caught unawares when USDOL comes knocking.

“There is nothing worse than someone showing up from USDOL on one of your busiest days of the year to conduct an unannounced inspection,” he said. “Knowing the rules in advance will help take some of the misery out of their intrusion into your farm business.”

Make no mistake, Kurt said: USDOL is out to get agriculture. Department employees have been specifically charged with targeting farms for labor violations. Labor unions, which have a “tremendous amount of influence” with the Obama administration, think illegal immigrants are taking farm jobs away from willing American workers – and they’re using USDOL to try and prove their point, he said.

Under the Obama administration, more than 300 employees in USDOL’s wage and hour division have been specially trained to conduct farm inspections – and violations can cost farms tens of thousands of dollars, he said.

And good luck trying to argue: “You’re wrong and they’re right, and that’s just the way it is in (USDOL) world,” Kurt said.

Doing things aboveboard – like hiring through H-2A to make sure all of your foreign workers are in the country legally – doesn’t make things easier, either. In fact, it just increases the scrutiny from USDOL, because now they know you exist, he said.

Kurt made a few points about his experiences with the H-2A temporary agricultural guest-worker program and the J-1 foreign exchange program. Under H-2A – notorious among growers for its many problems – all his domestic workers who do the same jobs as his guest workers have to be paid according to the program’s Adverse Effect Wage Rate, which in New Jersey is $10.60 an hour, he said.

The J-1 program has worked well for Alstede Farms. J-1 workers are subject to less federal restrictions than H-2A workers, but that could change. USDOL might start taking a closer look at that program after recent student protests in Hershey, Pa., Kurt said.

By Matt Milkovich, Managing Editor


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