State and Federal Laws That Apply to Farm Labor

As time passes, some of this information may no longer be accurate, and the reader is cautioned to be aware of that. Portions of this section have been drawn directly from statutes and regulations to provide a clear overview of the laws applying to farm labor. The beginning and ending of each excerpted portion will be noted within the content of this section.

The material is not intended to provide legal, accounting, or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such or as a substitute for such advice. Growers who desire such advice should seek independent professional counsel before acting on any information contained in this section.

It is important to understand that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that started in 2020 in the United States temporarily changed some government regulations and procedures concerning aspects of the employer-employee relationship. The substantial majority of these changes have expired and the information provided in this guide does not include any such temporary changes. Depending on when a reader is consulting this guide and the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be advisable to seek professional advice on whether any temporary changes may be applicable in a particular area.

Is a Worker an Employee or an Independent Contractor?

An important determination employers must make is whether or not a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. This distinction is significant because an employer "must withhold and deposit income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes from the wages paid to an employee" and "also pay the matching employer portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes as well as pay unemployment tax on wages paid to an employee." (IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee, last updated August 7, 2025). Such withholdings and payments are not required for independent contractors.

A worker who performs services for an employer is generally considered to be an employee if the employer has the right to control the work that will be done and how it will be done. This is true even if the employee is given freedom of action.

The following introduction and subsequent "right to control" test is drawn directly from IRS Publication 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide (Supplement to Pub. 15, Employer's Tax Guide), for use in 2025, Section 2 "Employee or Independent Contractor?" Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide

To determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor under the common-law, the relationship of the worker and the business must be examined. In any employee-independent contractor determination, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and the degree of independence must be considered. Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories: behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship of the parties. These facts are discussed next.

Behavioral Control

Facts that show whether the business has a right to direct and control how the worker does the task for which the worker is hired include the type and degree of the following:

Instructions the business gives to the worker. An employee is generally subject to the business's instructions about when, where, and how to work. All of the following are examples of types of instructions about how to do work:

• When and where to do the work.
• What tools or equipment to use.
• What workers to hire or to assist with the work.
• Where to purchase supplies and services.
• What work must be performed by a specified individual.
• What order or sequence to follow.

The amount of instruction needed varies among different jobs. Even if no instructions are given, sufficient behavioral control may exist if the employer has the right to control how the work results are achieved. A business may lack the knowledge to instruct some highly specialized professionals; in other cases, the task may require little or no instruction. The key consideration is whether the business has retained the right to control the details of a worker's performance or instead has given up that right.

Training that the business gives to the worker. An employee may be trained to perform services in a particular manner. Independent contractors ordinarily use their own methods.

Financial Control

Facts that show whether the business has a right to control the business aspects of the worker's job include:

• The extent to which the worker has unreimbursed business expenses. Independent contractors are more likely to have unreimbursed expenses than are employees. Fixed ongoing costs that are incurred regardless of whether work is currently being performed are especially important. However, employees may also incur unreimbursed expenses in connection with the services that they perform for their employer.
• The extent of the worker's investment. An independent contractor often has a significant investment in the facilities or tools they use in performing services for someone else. However, a significant investment is not necessary for independent contractor status.
• The extent to which the worker makes their services available to the relevant market. An independent contractor is generally free to seek out business opportunities. Independent contractors often advertise, maintain a visible business location, and are available to work in the relevant market.
• How the business pays the worker. An employee is generally guaranteed a regular wage amount for an hourly, weekly, or other period of time. This usually indicates that a worker is an employee, even when the wage or salary is supplemented by a commission. An independent contractor is often paid a flat fee or on a time and materials basis for the job. However, it is common in some professions, such as law, to pay independent contractors hourly.
• The extent to which the worker can realize a profit or loss. An independent contractor can make a profit or loss.

Type of Relationship

Facts that show the parties' type of relationship include:

• Written contracts describing the relationship the parties intended to create.
• Whether or not the business provides the worker with employee-type benefits, such as insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay, or sick pay.
• The permanency of the relationship. If you engage a worker with the expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for a specific project or period, this is generally considered evidence that your intent was to create an employer-employee relationship.
• The extent to which services performed by the worker are a key aspect of the regular business of the company. If a worker provides services that are a key aspect of your regular business activity, it is more likely that you will have the right to direct and control their activities. For example, if a law firm hires an attorney, it is likely that it will present the attorney's work as its own and would have the right to control or direct that work. This would indicate an employer-employee relationship.

End of information drawn directly from IRS Publication 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide (Supplement to Pub. 15, Employer’s Tax Guide) for use in 2025. Note: This publication also contains real-world examples that may help employers understand how to apply the right to control test.

IRS Help

An employer can receive IRS assistance in determining whether a worker is an employee. The employer may file Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS. Once the IRS receives Form SS-8, it may take up to six months for a decision. This may seem like it is a lengthy amount of time to wait, but if there are multiple workers in an identical work position, it is beneficial for an employer to be certain of those workers' tax status.

The following information is drawn directly from IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide, for use in 2025, Section 2, "Who Are Employees?" 

If you have an employer-employee relationship, it makes no difference how it is labeled. The substance of the relationship, not the label, governs the worker’s status. It doesn't matter whether the individual is employed full-time or part-time.

Statutory employees. If workers are independent contractors under the common-law rules, such workers may nevertheless be treated as employees by statute (also known as statutory employees) for certain employment tax purposes. This would happen if they fall within any one of the following four categories and meet the three conditions described under the "Social security and Medicare taxes" section of this IRS publication.

• A driver who distributes beverages (other than milk) or meat, vegetables, fruit, or bakery products or who picks up and delivers laundry or dry cleaning, if the driver is your agent or is paid on commission.
• A full-time life insurance sales agent whose principal business activity is selling life insurance or annuity contracts, or both, primarily for one life insurance company.
• An individual who works at home on materials or goods that you supply and that must be returned to you or to a person you name, if you also furnish specifications for the work to be done.
• A full-time traveling or city salesperson who works on your behalf and turns in orders to you from wholesalers; retailers; contractors; or operators of hotels, restaurants, or other similar establishments. The goods sold must be merchandise for resale or supplies for use in the buyer's business operation. The work performed for you must be the salesperson's principal business activity.

For FUTA tax (the unemployment tax paid under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act), the term "employee" means the same as it does for social security and Medicare taxes, except that it doesn't include statutory employees defined in categories 2 and 3 above. Any individual who is a statutory employee described under category 1 or 4 above is also an employee for FUTA tax purposes and subject to FUTA tax.

(End of information drawn directly from IRS Publication 15 [Circular E], Employer's Tax Guide, for use in 2025.)

Note: The IRS does not consider H-2A agricultural workers to be statutory employees. As a result, such employers should not check box 13 (Statutory employee) on Form W-2 of H-2A workers.

For More Information

For more information regarding worker classification, see IRS's website.

The determination of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor may also have implications in applying the federal law known as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). A final rule that changed the analysis for determining who is an employee versus an independent contractor became effective on March 11, 2024. For information confirming the current state of the law on this determination, see U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet 13: "Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)" (revised March 2024), which can be found at dol.gov.

Pennsylvania's New Hire Reporting Program

All Pennsylvania employers, including agricultural employers, are required to comply with the state's New Hire Reporting program. The purpose of the New Hire Reporting program is to assist enforcement activities aimed at collecting child support payments by providing a registry of all employed persons within the state. The statute creating this program and its requirements can be found in Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 23, Domestic Relations, § 4391-96.

Who Is an "Employer" That Must Comply?

All employers, regardless of size or type of business, must comply with the New Hire Reporting Program. Agricultural employers are included, even if they are exempt from other labor requirements.

Who Is an "Employee" for Purposes of the Program?

Under the New Hire Reporting program, an "employee" is any person working for an employer, regardless of the person’s age, hours worked, or wages earned. Officers of a corporation are included. An independent contractor is not considered to be an "employee" under the program. For new hire reporting purposes, a person is an employee and not an independent contractor if the employer:

• Must require a W-4 form under applicable law
• Must provide a W-2 form under applicable law
• Must pay Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Tax under applicable law
• Must pay Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation under applicable law

To comply with the program, an employer is required to report within 20 days of hire the following information regarding each employee hired on or after January 1, 1998:

• Full legal name
• Home address
• Social Security number
• Date of hire
• Date of birth (optional)
• State of hire (required for all multi-state employer submissions)

Information must be filed not only for new employees, but also for rehired employees who were terminated, laid off, furloughed, separated, or granted leave without pay for more than 30 days. For these rehired employees, the date of hire is the date of the latest rehire.

The report must also include the following information about the employer:

• Employer Company name
• Employer street address, city, state, and ZIP code
• Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN, the identifying number assigned to the employer for federal tax purposes)
• Employer contact person name, address, and phone number

Employers reporting as multi-state employers must also designate themselves as such on their electronic submission.

Methods of Reporting

"The information may be submitted on a form provided by the Department of Labor and Industry or by attaching the date of hire and name and telephone number of an employer contact to the W-4 form submitted for the newly hired employee. The information may be transmitted by first-class mail, magnetically, electronically or by another method authorized by the directory of new hires"  (23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4392(b)). All employers (including third-party payroll companies) are encouraged to report electronically to the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program via the Pennsylvania CareerLink website at PAcareerlink.pa.gov. 

Paper records may also be sent via fax. Detailed instructions on all methods are available from the New Hire Reporting Program, and employers should consult these instructions before making a report using their chosen method.

Regardless of the reporting method chosen by the employer, an employee's information must be submitted within 20 days of the date of hire, as stated above. If an employer chooses any non-paper method, that employer should submit two monthly reports that are between 12 and 16 days apart.

Multi-state Employers

If an employer has employees in more than one state, the employer has two options available on how to submit a new hire report. First, an employer may send a report to the state in which each new employee is working. This option can result in more work because the employer is submitting reports to more than one state. This means having knowledge of multiple new hire reporting policies and separate state record-keeping and submission requirements. The second option allows an employer to submit all new hire reports to one state. This option minimizes workload because it requires knowledge of only one state reporting system and one report filing system. For example, if an employer has employees who work in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the new hire report may be sent to either Maryland’s or Pennsylvania's new hire program, but need not be sent to both. Multi-state reports must be submitted through electronic filing and must report the information of all employees.

A multi-state employer who chooses to file a new hire report in one state must notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in writing as to which state the new hire information is being sent. A copy of the notification letter must be sent to the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program, regardless of which state will receive the reports. An employer may notify the Department of Health and Human Services in one of two ways: (1) filling out the Office of Child Support Enforcement Multi-State Employer Notification Form, or (2) writing a notification letter which must include all of the following:

• Employer's name
• Employer's FEIN
• Employer's Address
• Employer's phone number
• State selected for receipt of reports
• All states where the employer has employees
• Employer contact name
• Employer contact phone number

Regardless of which option an employer chooses, the employer must submit the form or notification letter by fax or email to:

Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement
Multistate Employer Notification
PO Box 509
Randallstown, MD 21133

Fax: 410-277-9325

The notification requirement is to maintain the National Directory of New Hires in accordance with the Federal Welfare Reform Act of 1997.

Authorized Uses of the Information

The primary use of the new hire information will be to facilitate the enforcement of child support obligations under the Federal Welfare Reform Act of 1997. The information will also be used to administer the workers' compensation and unemployment compensation programs of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Any further use of the information by government employees or agencies is prohibited.

Penalties

If an employer fails to report or falsely reports the required information, the employer will be subject to the following penalties:

• For the first violation, a written warning.
• For the second and each subsequent violation, a civil penalty up to $25.
• "If the failure to report or the submission of a false report is the result of a conspiracy between the employer and employee, the employer shall be subject to a civil penalty up to $500" (23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4396).

Reporting Resources

Any questions employers may have can be answered by contacting the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program by phone at 1-888-PAHIRES (1-888-724-4737).

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

Who Must Comply?

Employers who have one or more employees are subject to this act. Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) prohibits employers from hiring "unauthorized aliens for employment in the United States" (8 U.S.C. § 1324a). An employer who "hire[s], recruit[s], or refer[s] for a fee" someone known to be an unauthorized alien violates the act (8 U.S.C. § 1324a). An employer can also violate the act by failing to comply with the employment-verification provisions required by the act.

IRCA holds employers responsible for verifying an employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the United States. Agricultural associations and farm labor contractors are also required to verify identities for any individuals they hire, recruit, or refer (8 U.S.C. § 1324a). An employer’s failure to verify identity and eligibility is a violation of the act, even if the employee hired is not an illegal alien. If an employer can establish that they complied in good faith with the requirement to verify an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the United States, the employer has an affirmative defense to claims the employer knowingly hired an unauthorized alien.

A definitive source of information for employers is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Handbook for Employers M-274: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification Form), current as of July 2023.

What Are Employers Required to Do?

An employer subject to the act must follow these steps for compliance with IRCA:

• Have the employee complete part 1 of the Employment Eligibility Verification form, known as Form I-9. "Employees may voluntarily provide their Social Security number, or leave this field blank. However, if you are enrolled in E-Verify, your employees must provide their Social Security number. Employees who have not yet received their Social Security number and who can satisfy Form I-9 requirements may work while awaiting their Social Security number. Have them enter their Social Security number in Section 1 as soon as they receive it. You cannot ask employees to provide a specific document with their Social Security number on it. To do so may constitute unlawful discrimination" (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Handbook for Employers M-274, Section 3.0). Keep in mind the employer is responsible for confirming that the employee properly completes this section of the Form I-9.
• Check the authenticity of documents submitted by the employee which establish the employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the United States. All documents presented must be originals. The individual checking the documents must decide if they are genuine and represent the individual presenting them. An employer is not required to make photocopies of the documents but is permitted to do so because copies can be used to prove compliance with IRCA. Accepted documents are listed on the last page of Form I-9 and are broken into three categories: (1) documents establishing both identity and employment authorization (e.g., U.S. passport), (2) documents establishing identity (e.g., driver's license), (3) documents that establish employment authorization (e.g., social security account number card). Note: An employer cannot prefer and request one form of documentation over another.
• The person who examined the documents in step 2 must then complete and sign the employer portion of Form I-9.
• Retain the completed form for at least three years after the employee has been hired or one year after the employment relationship has been terminated, whichever is longer.
• Form I-9s are not filed with an agency but must be presented to an inspecting officer of the Department of Labor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or the Civil Rights Division's Immigration and Employee Rights Section. These agencies will give employers three days' notice or more before inspection to compile all forms.

Participation in E-Verify is voluntary and free. E-Verify allows employers to electronically confirm an employee's eligibility to work in the United States. For more information about E-Verify and to sign up, please go to e-verify.gov.

Employers must complete Form I-9 within three business days of the date of hire. Date of hire should be considered as the date an employee actually begins working. If an employee is hired for less than three days, the Form I-9 must be completed at the time of hire.

If an employer rehires an employee for whom a Form I-9 was completed within three years of the date of rehire, the employer can reverify the information on the first Form I-9 to determine if the employee is still eligible to work in the United States. After the information is verified, the employer must update the Form I-9 to reflect the date of rehire. If the employer's inspection of the Form I-9 determines that the individual's employment authorization has expired, the employer must reverify the employee's eligibility to work in the United States. If the employee cannot establish eligibility, the employee cannot be hired.

Anti-discrimination

IRCA contains specific anti-discrimination provisions aimed at businesses that have four or more employees. These provisions prohibit employers from discriminating against any employee because of the employee's national origin, citizenship, or intended citizenship status when hiring, firing, recruiting, or referring for a fee any person. In this context, discrimination means an employer treats some potential employees differently than others for reasons prohibited by law. While the law prohibits discrimination, such as an employer refusing to consider a job applicant because the applicant is a foreign citizen, it requires employers to refuse employment to an applicant who is not authorized to work in the United States. Discrimination also includes unfair documentary requests such as asking for “more or different documents than are required by Form I-9 to establish the individual's identity and employment authorization; requesting . . . a particular document; rejecting documents that reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the individuals presenting them; and treating groups of individuals differently when verifying employment eligibility” (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Handbook for Employers M-274, Section 11.2.1). These IRCA provisions are in addition to all other federal laws addressing discrimination based on sex, race, religion, and age.

For More Information

For more information regarding I-9 employment verification, see the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services website at uscis.gov.

Child Labor Laws

Who Is An "Agricultural Employer"?

For purposes of this section, "an agricultural employer means any person who owns or operates a farm, ranch, processing establishment, cannery, gin, packing shed, or nursery, or who produces or conditions seed and who either recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, or transports any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker" (29 U.S.C. § 1802).

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The FLSA sets wage, hour, and employment standards that apply to most workers in the United States, including young workers. Standards for young workers vary depending on the workers' age group and whether the workers are employed on a farm. In addition, the Pennsylvania Child Labor Law and Seasonal Farm Labor Act have various provisions that affect employment of children in agricultural roles. When these standards are more stringent than FLSA, the more stringent standard will apply.

Restrictions for Farm Work

Children employed by their parents or who are at least 16 years of age, under FLSA, may work any time and perform any farm job, even those deemed as hazardous agricultural occupations. If the minor is 14 or 15 years old, they may work outside of school hours in any farm job except those designated as hazardous agricultural occupations. These hazardous occupations can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 29, § 570.71. The following list is directly drawn from that source:

• Operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor.
• Operating or assisting to operate . . . any of the following machines: (i) Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, or mobile pea viner; (ii) Feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer; or (iii) Power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking type rotary tiller.
• Operating or assisting to operate . . . any of the following machines: (i) Trencher or earthmoving equipment; (ii) Fork lift; (iii) Potato combine; or (iv) Power-driven circular, band, or chainsaw. Operating or having any contact with trenching equipment, a forklift, or power-driven saws.
• Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a: (i) Bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or (ii) Sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present).
• Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than 6 inches.
• Working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over 20 feet.
• Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.
• Working inside: (i) A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere; (ii) An upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position; (iii) A manure pit; or (iv) A horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes.
• Handling or applying . . . agricultural chemicals classified . . . as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word "poison" and the "skull and crossbones" on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word "warning" on the label; Having any contact with agricultural chemicals of Class I toxicity . . . or Class II toxicity.
• Handling or using a blasting agent
• Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

For the unabridged list of hazardous agricultural occupations, see 29 C.F.R. § 570.71.

Minors who are 14 or 15 years old with specialized training may be able to obtain approval to engage in some of the preceding farm occupations. For more details, a vocational agriculture instructor or 4-H leader can be contacted for assistance.

If the employee is 12 or 13 years old, he or she may work outside school hours in non-hazardous farm jobs with his or her parents' written consent or may work on a farm where the parents are employed.

If the employee is younger than 12 years old, he or she may work with parents' written consent and outside school hours in non-hazardous tasks on farms whose employees do not have to be paid minimum wage.

On farms subject to minimum wage, local minors 10 and 11 years old may work for no more than eight weeks between June 1 and October 15, with approval from the Secretary of Labor. This work must be confined to hand harvesting short-season crops outside school hours, under very limited and specified circumstances as prescribed by the Secretary of Labor.

Minimum Wage for Youth

If the employee works in a job covered by FLSA, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, he or she must be paid the same minimum wage and overtime pay as adult workers, unless a specific exemption applies.

For More Information

For more information regarding federal child labor laws and agriculture, see:

• U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #40: Overview of Youth Employment (Child Labor) Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Agricultural Occupations
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Child Labor Bulletin 102: Child Labor Requirements in Agricultural Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Pennsylvania Child Labor Act and Seasonal Farm Labor Act

Pennsylvania's Child Labor Act and Seasonal Farm Labor Act contains provisions applicable to employment of youth. A "minor" under Pennsylvania's Child Labor Act is defined as "an individual under 18 years of age" (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.2). The following list describes some of these additional restrictions and limitations:

• No child under 18 years of age shall be employed to work in any establishment or in any occupation for more than six consecutive days in any one week, or more than 44 hours in any one week, or more than eight hours in any one day.
• No child under 18 years of age shall be "employed for more than five hours continuously [in any establishment] without an interval of at least 30 minutes for a rest break. No period of less than 30 minutes shall be deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work" (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.3(a)).
• No child under 18 years of age, who is enrolled in regular day school and working outside school hours, shall be employed to work for more than 28 hours during a school week (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.3[f][1][i]).
• No child under 18 years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in any establishment between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. if such minor is enrolled in regular day school. During a school vacation period, children who are 16 and 17 years of age may be employed until, but not after, 1:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and on days preceding a school vacation occurring during the school year, excepting the last day of such vacation period (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.3(f)(1)(iii)).
• No child under 16 years of age shall be employed to work in any occupation before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. of any day except during school vacation period from June to Labor Day, when such minor may work between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. No child under 16 years of age who is enrolled in school and working outside school hours can be employed or permitted to work in any occupation more than three hours on a school day, or more than eight hours on any other day, or more than 18 hours during a school week (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.3(d)(1)–(4)).
• A child under 16 years of age employed on a farm by a person other than the farmer in the hatching, raising, or harvesting of poultry may be employed or permitted to work until 10:00 p.m. as long as the minor is not working in an agricultural occupation declared hazardous by the United States Secretary of Labor (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 40.3(e)(1)).
• Students 14 years of age [and over] "whose employment is part of a recognized school-work program supervised by a recognized school authority may be employed for hours which, combined with the hours spent in school, do not exceed eight a day" (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3(e)(3)).
• No child from 14 to 17 years of age inclusive who is employed or permitted to work as a seasonal farm worker can 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 he is then a resident, whether or not such minor is registered as a pupil in such school district" (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1301.203(b)).
• "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" (43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1301.203(a)).
• At any age, a child may work in any farm job on a farm that his or her parents own or operate.

Work Permits

In Pennsylvania, it is unlawful for anyone under 18 to be employed without a work permit. Each school district is responsible for issuing work permits to all minors who reside in the district, including minors who attend nonpublic schools, cyber charter schools, or are in a home-school program. Additionally, a minor who is a high school graduate must obtain a work permit from the school district where the employer is located or at the college or trade school they are attending.

Every Pennsylvania employer is required to obtain work permits from each minor employee and to keep copies of all work permits on file. Children working for their parent on their parent's farm do not need a work permit.

For More Information

For more information regarding the Pennsylvania Child Labor Act, see the  Pennsylvania Department of Education website and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry website.

Wage and Hour Laws: Minimum Wage and Hours Worked

"Agriculture" Defined

An employee is employed in agriculture if the employee's duties fall within either the primary or secondary meaning of agriculture. Under the primary meaning, "Agriculture includes farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities . . . the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry" (29 U.S.C. § 203(f)).

The secondary meaning of agriculture is broader than the primary meaning. It includes "any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market" (29 U.S.C. § 203(f)). Persons who are not employed in farming, by a farmer, or on a farm are not considered to be employed in farming. Questions to consider when determining what qualifies under the secondary meaning of agriculture include the following:

• Is the activity an established part of agriculture?
• Is the activity subordinate to the farming operation involved?
• Is the activity an independent business?
• Is the activity ordinarily performed by farmers incidentally to their farming operations?
• Do most farmers who produce the commodity engage in the activity (e.g., among all dairy farmers, how many also engage in the activity of processing milk into yogurt)?

For a comprehensive understanding of both primary and secondary agriculture, review 29 C.F.R. § 780.100-780.159. These sections offer broken-down definitions of primary and secondary agriculture. Examples include what is considered "raising livestock," "meaning of a 'farm,'" and what is "preparation for market."

Who Must Comply?

Agriculture is exempt from federal and Pennsylvania overtime requirements. Labor on a farm is exempt from Pennsylvania’s minimum-wage laws. Seasonal farm workers, however, are to be paid at least the statutory minimum wage or a piece rate equivalent to it.

Under the FLSA, an agricultural employer "who d[oes] not utilize more than 500 'man days' of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the FLSA for the current calendar year. A 'man day' is defined as any day during which an employee performs agricultural work for at least one hour" (U.S. Dept. Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #12: Agricultural Employers Under the Fair Labor Standards Act revised January 2025). 

For example, an employer who employs seven people to work at least one hour per day for five days in a given week has generated 35 man days for that week. If these seven workers work five days a week for the full 13-week calendar quarter, then the employer has generated 455 man days during the calendar quarter. Employers who hire many workers to work only short periods should note there are many ways to generate more than 500 man days in a calendar quarter. For example, 50 workers employed to work at least one hour a day for 12 days will generate 600 man days in the calendar quarter when the work is performed. Additionally, federal minimum wage laws do not apply to the following agricultural workers:

• "Agricultural employees who are immediate family members of their employer
• Those principally engaged on the range in the production of livestock
• Local hand harvest laborers who commute daily from their permanent residence are paid on a piece rate basis in traditionally piece-rated occupations, and were engaged in agriculture less than thirteen weeks during the preceding calendar year
• Non-local minors, 16 years of age or under, who are hand harvesters, paid on a piece rate basis in traditionally piece-rated occupations, employed on the same farm as their parent, and paid the same piece rate as those over 16."

(U.S. Dept. Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #12: Agricultural Employers Under the Fair Labor Standards Act revised January 2025)

For the unedited list of exempt agricultural workers see 29 U.S.C. § 213(6)(A)-(E). 

If a farm retail outlet only sells produce grown on the farm, the retail outlet falls within the definition of agriculture and the above minimum-wage test and the overtime exemption would apply.

Donning, Doffing, and Sanitization

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has interpreted regulations defining "hours worked" to include time that employees are required to spend donning, doffing, and sanitizing their protective gear under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act of 1968 (Lugo v. Farmers Pride, Inc., 967 A.2d 963 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2009)).

The definition provides the following: "Hours worked—The term includes time during which an employee is required by the employer to be on the premises of the employer, to be on duty or to be at the prescribed work place, time spent in traveling as part of the duties of the employee during normal working hours and time during which an employee is employed or permitted to work; provided, however, that time allowed for meals shall be excluded unless the employee is required or permitted to work during that time, and provided further, that time spent on the premises of the employer for the convenience of the employee shall be excluded" (34 Pa. Code § 231.1(b)).

Withholding Income, Social Security, and Medicare Taxes

Who Must Comply?

Farmers whose total payment for agricultural labor provided by all employees is more than $2,500, or who pay an individual employee more than $150 in cash wages during the year, must withhold income, social security, and Medicare taxes. Only cash wages paid to farm workers are subject to social security and Medicare taxes. Cash wages include checks, money orders, and any kind of money or cash. Only cash wages subject to social security and Medicare taxes are credited to employees for social security benefit purposes. Non-cash wages include food, lodging, clothing, transportation passes, and other goods and services. Non-cash wages paid to farm workers, including commodity wages, are not subject to social security and Medicare taxes. However, they are subject to these taxes if the substance of the transaction is a cash payment.

Wages paid to a child aged 18 to 21 years by a parent-employer and wages paid to a spouse by his or her spouse-employer, are considered wages for Social Security purposes.

Wages paid to employees are exempt from income and social security withholding if the employee meets all of the following requirements:

• Earns less than $150 from an agricultural employer
• Is employed as a hand-harvest laborer
• Is paid on a piece-rate basis
• Commutes daily from his or her permanent residence
• Is employed in agriculture less than 13 weeks during the preceding calendar year

Wages paid to employees meeting these requirements are still counted toward the $2,500 amount by which coverage is determined for other employees who do not qualify for this exemption.

Employers should give each new employee a Form W-4 as soon as they hire the employee. For Spanish-speaking employees, employers may use the Spanish translated Form W-4, Formulario W-4(SP). The employee should complete and return the form to the employer before the first payday. If the employee does not return the completed form, the employer must withhold federal income tax as if the employee is single and claims no withholding allowances.

Cost to the Employer

Employers who are required to withhold income taxes from their employees should refer to the tax withholding tables found in Circular E, the Employer's Tax Guide, published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These tables will enable the employer to calculate the correct tax amount to be withheld.

For 2025, the total Social Security tax rate is 12.4 percent (6.2 percent withheld from both the employee and the employer). The maximum amount of wages to which the Social Security withholding and employer tax rates applied is $176,100 in 2025. This amount, known as the wage base, is subject to change as average wage levels change. In addition, in 2025, a Medicare tax of 1.45 percent of an employee's gross wages is imposed on both an employee and employer (for a total tax of 2.9 percent). This tax is applied to the full amount of an employee's wages.

For More Information

See IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide

Unemployment Compensation: Federal, State and insurance

Who Must Comply?

Agricultural employers are subject to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), if they meet either of two tests:

• Total cash wages paid were $20,000 or more in any calendar quarter during the current or preceding year.
• Ten or more farm workers were employed at least part of one day (whether or not at the same time) during 20 or more different calendar weeks of the current or preceding year.

For example, if an employer had 10 people employed for one hour on any single day, that week would be counted as one of the 20 weeks. Family members and children under the age of 21 are not included in the wage determination or in counting the number of farm workers. Wages paid to alien workers are not subject to FUTA tax but are included in the wage test.

Cost to the Employer

According to IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide, for use in 2025: "Only the employer pays FUTA tax; it isn't withheld from the employee's wages . . . for 2025, the FUTA tax rate is 6.0%. The tax applies to the first $7,000 you pay to each employee as wages during the year. The $7,000 is the federal wage base. Your state wage base may be different."

Tax Deposits and Forms

According to IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide, for use in 2025:

"For deposit purposes, figure FUTA tax quarterly. Determine your FUTA tax liability by multiplying the amount of taxable wages paid during the quarter by 0.6 percent. Stop depositing FUTA tax on an employee's wages when he or she reaches $7,000 in taxable wages for the calendar year.

If your FUTA tax liability for any calendar quarter is $500 or less, you do not have to deposit the tax. Instead, you may carry it forward and add it to the liability figured in the next quarter to see if you must make a deposit. If your FUTA tax liability for any calendar quarter is over $500 (including any FUTA tax carried forward from an earlier quarter), you must deposit the tax by EFT (electronic funds transfer). See section 11 for more information on EFT."

An annual return, Form 940 or Form 940-EC Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return, must be filed by January 31 following the close of a calendar year. Any tax due is payable with the form. If no tax is due, forms must be filed by February 11. Form 940 must be filed on a calendar-year basis even if your farm operates on a fiscal-year basis.

For More Information

For more information regarding FUTA, see IRS Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide, for use in 2025. 

Unemployment Compensation: State

Who Must Comply?

Employer eligibility rules for Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation are the same as for FUTA, except for two differences. FUTA exempts the wages of children under the age of 21 while Pennsylvania rules lower the exemption age to children under the age of 18. This can create a situation where an employer is subject to Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation but exempt from FUTA. The wage base for Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation is $10,000 for 2018 and thereafter, which is higher than FUTAs $7,000 wage base.

Tax Deposits and Forms

Form UC-2 and 2a is filed quarterly on or before the last day of the month following the close of the calendar quarter. If an employer’s unemployment contributions during a payment period exceed $5,000, effective since January 1, 2017, that employer is required to make the payment electronically. If an employer meets this requirement once, all other quarterly payments must be made electronically, even if the amounts in the subsequent periods do not exceed $5,000.

For More Information

For more information regarding unemployment compensation, see the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Unemployment Compensation webpage.

Workers' Compensation Insurance

Who Must Comply?

Any agricultural employer is required to provide workmen's compensation coverage for all employees, if during the calendar year such employer either pays wages to one employee for agricultural labor totaling $1,200 or more, or furnishes employment to one employee of agricultural labor on 30 or more days.

The term "employee" includes "all natural persons who perform services for another for [pay or] a valuable consideration. [The term does not include] persons whose employment is casual in character and not in the regular course of the business of the employer, and exclusive of persons to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished or repaired, or adapted for sale in the worker's own home, or on other premises, not under the control or management of the employer" (77 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 104). Casual employment is described as employment for a temporary or limited purpose that is performed on an occasional basis with long intervals between periods of such employment.

An employed spouse or child who is under 18 years of age is not considered to be an employee unless the services provided are within an express written contract of employment filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Cost to the Employer

The cost of coverage varies, depending on the general type of farm activity and the cost that the insurance industry has experienced in settling claims in that type of farm activity.

Farmers who hire very limited quantities of labor should be aware that their insurance company will make a minimum charge for coverage.

Compensation Coverage

This coverage is available from private insurance agencies or from the State Workers’ Insurance Fund (SWIF). Visit the SWIF website

For More Information

See the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Workers' Compensation website or contact:

Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Department of Labor and Industry
1171 S. Cameron Street, Room 324
Harrisburg, PA 17104

Phone: 717-783-5421 or 717-772-3702

Occupational Safety and Health Act

On August 30, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, which is open for public comment until September 30, 2025. After that time, OSHA will move forward to complete and publish a final rule, so no enforceable standard will exist until the final rule's publication. "The proposed standard would apply to all employers conducting outdoor and indoor work in all . . . and agriculture sectors where OSHA has jurisdiction" and "would require employers to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in their workplace." For more information on OSHA's heat standard rulemaking process, see OSHA.gov.

Who Must Comply?

All employers have a general duty to provide a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

Duties of Employers

• To remove, guard against, or warn employees of potential hazards
• To report to the nearest Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) area office all work-related fatalities within 8 hours. All work-related losses of an eye, amputations, and inpatient hospitalizations must be reported to OSHA within 24 hours.
• Post in the workplace the OSHA poster informing employees of their rights and responsibilities
• To comply with standards for:

1. Slow-moving vehicle signs
2. Logging and pulpwood operations
3. Storing and handling anhydrous ammonia
4. Rollover protection devices on certain tractors (see complete description below)
5. Temporary labor camps
6. Safety guards on agricultural equipment
7. Hazard communication

Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) Regulations

Every employee who operates an agricultural tractor over 20 horsepower is to be informed of the following practices or any other practices dictated by the work environment found in 29 C.F.R. § 1928, Appendix A to Subpart C of 1928 "Employee Operating Instructions":

• Securely fasten your seatbelt if the tractor has a ROPS.
• Where possible, avoid operating the tractor near ditches, embankments, and holes.
• Reduce speed when turning, crossing slopes, and on rough, slick, or muddy surfaces.
• Stay off slopes too steep for safe operation.
• Watch where you are going, especially at row ends, on roads, and around trees.
• Do not permit others to ride.
• Operate the tractor smoothly—no jerky turns, starts, or stops.
• Hitch only to the drawbar and hitch points recommended by tractor manufacturers.
• When tractor is stopped, set brakes securely and use park lock if available.

This information is to be provided to employees when they first begin using a tractor and, at a minimum, annually thereafter.

According to 29 C.F.R. § 1928.51, where ROPS are required an employer must also: "(1) Provide each tractor with a seatbelt which meets the requirements of this paragraph; (2) Ensure that each employee uses such seatbelt while the tractor is moving; and (3) Ensure that each employee tightens the seatbelt sufficiently to confine the employee to the protected area provided by the ROPS."

Exempt uses for ROPS and seatbelt requirements include:

• Low-profile tractors while they are used in orchards, vineyards, or hop yards where the vertical clearance requirements would substantially interfere with normal operations, or inside farm buildings or greenhouses in which the vertical clearance is insufficient to allow a ROPS equipped tractor to operate and while their use is incidental to the work performed therein.
• Tractors with mounting equipment that is incompatible with ROPS such as corn pickers, cotton strippers, vegetable pickers, and fruit harvesters.

For more information on ROPS, see 29 C.F.R. § 1928, "Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Agriculture," Subpart C.

Field Sanitation

Employers with 11 or more employees working in hand-labor operations in the field must provide toilets, handwashing facilities, and drinking water at no cost to the employees. Toilet and handwashing facilities are not required if employees perform field work for three hours or less during the day, including transportation time to and from the field.

According to 29 C.F.R., § 1928.110, "Field Sanitation," employers must follow these requirements:

• "Potable water shall be provided and placed in locations readily accessible to all employees. The water shall be suitably cool and in sufficient amounts, taking into account the air temperature, humidity and the nature of the work performed, to meet the needs of all employees. The water shall be dispensed in single-use drinking cups or by fountains. The use of common drinking cups or dippers is prohibited." 29 C.F.R. § 1928.110(c)(1)(i)-(iii).
• "One toilet facility and one handwashing facility shall be provided for each (20) employees. Toilet facilities shall be adequately ventilated, appropriately screened, have self-closing doors that can be closed and latched from the inside and shall be constructed to ensure privacy . . . shall be accessibly located and in close proximity to each other. The facilities shall be located within a one-quarter-mile walk of each hand laborer's place of work in the field. Where due to terrain it is not feasible to locate facilities as required above, the facilities shall be located at the point of closest vehicular access" (29 C.F.R. § 1928.110(c)(2)(i)–(iv)). All facilities must be kept clean and sanitary.

Inform employees of the importance of good hygiene practices to minimize exposure in the field to heat, communicable disease, retention of urine, and agrichemical residues. Employers must instruct employees to:

• Use the water and facilities provided for drinking, handwashing and elimination
• Drink water frequently and especially on hot days
• Urinate as frequently as necessary
• Wash hands both before and after using toilet
• Wash hands before eating or smoking (29 C.F.R. § 1928.110(c)(4)(i)–(v))

Exemptions

OSHA’s provisions do not apply to family members employed on a farm by a member of the immediate family.

Small Farming Operations and Exemption From OSHA Enforcement activity under Enforcement Directive CPL 02-00-051

While not technically an "exemption" from OSHA regulations, in 1998, the U.S. Congress placed restrictions on OSHA's enforcement activity through the appropriations process. Chapter 10 (Industry Sectors) of OSHA's Field Operations Manual summarizes the restriction as follows:

"OSHA is limited by provisions in its Appropriations Act that refer to which employers it can inspect. Some of the Appropriations Act exemptions and limitations apply to small farming operations; specifically, OSHA shall not inspect farming operations that have 10 or fewer employees and have had no temporary labor camp (TLC) activity within the prior 12 months." However, "a farming operation with 10 or fewer employees that maintains a temporary labor camp or has maintained a temporary labor camp within the last twelve months is not exempt from inspection." And, "states with OSHA-approved State Plans can enforce on small farms and provide consultation or training, provided that 100 percent state funds are used and the state has an accounting system in place to ensure that no federal or matching state funds are expended on these activities."

Further, a policy clarification memo dated July 29, 2014, notes the following non-exempt activities:

"However, if an employer performs activities on a small farm that are not related to farming operations and are not necessary to gain economic value from products produced on the farm, those activities are not exempt from OSHA enforcement. For example, if an exempt small farm maintains a grain handling operation storing and selling grain grown on other farms, the grain handling operation would not be exempt from OSHA enforcement under the appropriations rider. If a small farm employer maintains a food processing facility for making cider from apples grown on the farm or for processing large carrots into 'baby' carrots, or if the employer mills its grain into flour and then uses the flour to make baked goods, those food processing operations would be food manufacturing, not farming. Food manufacturing operations are not exempt from OSHA enforcement activities under the appropriations rider, even if they take place on a small farm."

More information can be obtained at: OSHA Field Operations Manual, Chapter 10: Industry Sectors , OSHA Policy Clarification on OSHA’s Enforcement Authority at Small Farms, July 29, 2014.

OSHA Hazard Communication Standard

The Hazard Communication Standard was created to ensure that hazardous chemicals are categorized as such and that employees receive the necessary information about all hazardous chemicals in the workplace. This standard is concerned only with the question of an employer's obligation to employees. The standard does not address the rights of the public to request information about hazardous material from employers.

To comply with obligations owed by an employer to an employee, as defined by the standard, the employer has to do five things:

1. Determine which materials in the workplace are hazardous.
2. Obtain and file safety data sheets (SDSs) for each identified hazardous material.
3. Develop and implement a written hazard communication program for the employer's workplace.
4. Ensure that labels and other forms of warning used on containers of hazardous materials meet the standard's requirements.
5. Provide each employee "exposed" to hazardous material information and training.

Since 1988, the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard has applied to manufacturing and non-manufacturing employers, including those in production agriculture. If the OSHA standard applies to an employer, it will preempt any inconsistent state law, such as Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Act provisions that also affect an employer's obligation to employees. Since OSHA does not apply to the general public, Pennsylvania law continues to apply to those issues affecting an employer's obligation to the general public. For more information on the Hazard Communication Standard, see OSHA's hazard communication.

For More Information

See the United States Department of  Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration website. 

Pennsylvania Worker and Community Right-to-Know Act

This act is intended to be a comprehensive program for handling the risks and hazards faced by workers in their jobs and by public citizens who live or work in Pennsylvania. The Act took effect in 1986 and requires employers to observe their workplace and determine if any materials are identified by the act as hazards, special hazards, or environmental hazards. If the employer discovers the workplace has hazardous materials, the employer is required to make that information available upon request to any employee who could be exposed to the materials.

Who Must Comply?

The Community Right-to-Know Act applies to all employers in Pennsylvania. The term "employers" includes "any individual, partnership, corporation or association doing business in the Commonwealth, including the Commonwealth, its political subdivisions, including school districts, and any officer, board, commission, agency, authority or other instrumentality thereof." 35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7302. As explained above, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issues its Hazard Communication Standard. If an employer is subject to the OSHA standard, the standard will prevent the application of the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Act provisions that relate to an employer's obligations to an employee. Since the OSHA standard does not apply to an employer's obligation to disclose information to the general public, the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know rules will continue to apply to all employers.

Considering the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard's application to production agriculture and agribusiness, provisions of the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Act regarding the public's right to this information require the following steps to be taken to comply with the act:

• Survey the workplace to identify hazards and complete the hazardous substance survey form (HSSF) annually by April 1.
• File the survey form for future reference.
• Update the form during the year, as needed.
• Make the form available if requested by the Department of Labor and Industry.

Requests for this information are made directly to the Department of Labor and Industry, which will then contact the employer. Requests by local police, fire, or emergency response agencies may be made directly to the employer concerned.

For More Information

See the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry PA Worker & Community Right to Know webpage 

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

This act continues the Superfund program, which is targeted at cleaning up the environment. In 1986, new amendments were added, entitled "Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know." The agency tasked with administering SARA is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What Does the Act Require?

The act created four major responsibilities for employers:

• The first is to report the presence of hazardous materials at a facility to the state emergency response commission and the local emergency planning committee. The obligation to file this report is tied to the presence of the hazardous material in a quantity that exceeds the threshold amount set by EPA. Once this report is filed, the person having the material appoints an individual to be involved in local planning committee activities. State and county offices of the Farm Service Agency can assist in identifying hazardous materials and threshold amounts.
• The second major responsibility under this act is to report the release of any of these hazardous materials. In this case, the duty to file the report is triggered by the release of hazardous material in an amount exceeding that set by EPA in its regulations. Under this section, pesticides registered under federal law that are used in accordance with their intended purpose and the normal application of fertilizers are exempt from the release-reporting requirement.
• The third major responsibility applies to employers subject to the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. It requires those employers to make information available to the general public and emergency response agencies. This provision becomes particularly important in light of the decision to expand coverage of the OSHA standard. Chemicals used in routine agricultural operations and household products are not subject to this reporting requirement.
• The fourth major responsibility applies to manufacturing employers with 10 or more full-time employees who use specified toxic chemicals. If these toxic chemicals are released into the environment, the employer must report the release in the manner required by the act.

Since this act involves the federal government and its agencies as well as the rights of the public regarding hazardous materials, the question of the relationship between state and federal law arises. The SARA amendments are not intended to preempt any state or local law, as in the case of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. State and federal laws could both apply to these situations.

For More Information

For more information regarding SARA, see EPA’s SARA overview webpage 

Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against "qualified individuals with disabilities" in employment, public services, transportation, public accommodation, and telecommunication services.

Key Terms and What They Mean

A "qualified individual with a disability" is a person who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of a job, as taken from the job description of a particular position.

A "disability" is "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual; a record of such impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment" (42 U.S.C. § 12102(1)(A)–(C)). "Disability" is given broad interpretation, with the law favoring the term to be more inclusive than not.

A "substantial" impairment is an inability to perform a "major life activity" or a significant restriction as to the condition, manner, or duration under which that activity can be performed. This determination is made without considering devices or medications which could mitigate this impairment, with the exception of glasses and contacts.

"Major life activities . . . include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working" (42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A)). They are activities that the average person in the general population can perform with little or no difficulty.

Who Must Comply?

Employer provisions of the ADA covers employers who have 15 or more employees. For purposes of the act, an employee is a person who works each day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

What Does the Act Require?

Employers must post in a conspicuous place where notices to employees are customarily posted a description of the applicable provisions of this act.

What Is Prohibited?

Discrimination is prohibited regarding "job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment" (42 U.S.C. § 12112(a)). 

Forms of discrimination include, among other things:

• Acts that adversely affect opportunities for disabled persons
• Failure to make a reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations

An example of a reasonable accommodation would be making existing facilities accessible and usable for a handicapped employee. Accommodations can vary with each individual employee. Structures, schedules, assignments, equipment, materials, and policies must accommodate people with disabilities.

Employers are exempt from creating reasonable accommodations if making such an accommodation would result in an undue hardship. In determining if undue hardship exists, considerations taken into account are the nature of the accommodation, the facility’s financial resources, the number of employees, the impact on expenses and resources, the characteristics of the employer, the location of the facility, and the composition and function of the work force are considered.

Using tests, standards, and criteria that are not job related and that screen out disabled persons.

Inquiries about the disability or the severity of a disability. An exception exists if the inquiry relates to interviewees or employee's ability to perform certain job duties.

Pre-employment physicals may be required if the physicals are job-related, are consistent with business necessity, and are performed after an offer of employment is made to the applicant. Offers of employment can be conditioned on the results of the physicals only if all employees in the same job category are subject to examination and the information obtained from the physical is kept confidential in separate medical files.

Employers may not discriminate against recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who have been in a rehabilitation program and are not using drugs or alcohol.

Employers may prohibit the use of illegal drugs and alcohol in the workplace and may require employees to come to work sober and drug free.

An employer may not enter into a contractual or other arrangement or relationship with an entity, such as an employment or referral agency, that would have the effect of discriminating against a qualified applicant or employee with a disability.

Although farm labor contractors are not specifically mentioned, it is possible this provision would prohibit a farmer or grower from entering a relationship with a farm labor contractor that discriminates based on disability.

For More Information

For more information regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act, visit their website.

Pennsylvania Seasonal Farm Labor Act

The Seasonal Farm Labor Act was passed by the Pennsylvania legislature to improve the conditions of seasonal farm workers. The act establishes standards for wages, hours, working conditions, housing, food facilities, fire protection, and safety.

Who Must Comply?

Farm labor contractors must comply with this act.

A "farm labor contractor" is "any person who, for payment, wages, salary, fees or other consideration, either for himself or on behalf of another person, recruits, solicits, hires, furnishes or transports five or more seasonal farm workers (excluding members of his immediate family) in any calendar year for employment in agriculture or in agriculture-related industry. In any case in which a firm, partnership, association, corporation or organization engages in such activities for the purpose of supplying seasonal farm workers solely for its own operation, the term 'farm labor contractor' means that officer, official, supervisor or employee most directly responsible for such activity." 43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1301.103.

A "seasonal farm worker" is "[a]n individual employed in raising, cultivating, fertilizing, seeding, planting, pruning, harvesting, gathering, washing, sorting, weighing or handling, drying, packing, packaging, grading, storing or delivering to market or to storage or to a carrier for transportation to market in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural commodity … on a seasonal or other temporary basis; includes every individual, irrespective of his primary employment, while he performs agricultural labor on a seasonal or other temporary basis, except any person who commutes daily from his permanent residence to the work site unless transportation is provided such a person by a farm labor contractor; and, other provisions of this act to the contrary notwithstanding, includes any person residing in living quarters owned, leased or operated by an employer or a farm labor contractor and occupied by four or more unrelated persons." The unedited definition can be found at 43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1301.103.

The following list is drawn directly from 43 Pa. Con. Stat. § 1301.103. The term "farm labor contractor" does not include:

• any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation which is the holder of a valid and current license pursuant to . . . the "Employment Agency Law";
• any nonprofit charitable organization, public or nonprofit private educational institution, or similar organization;
• an individual farmer . . . who engages in such activity for the purpose of supplying seasonal farm workers solely for his own operation, except that an employee of an individual farmer who engages in such activity on such a farmer’s behalf shall be considered a "farm labor contractor" for the purposes of this act;

"Farm labor employer" includes every individual, firm, partnership, association, trust, corporation, receiver, or . . . any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, employing or permitting to work any seasonal farm worker in this Commonwealth, and includes every farmer, grower, nurseryman or landowner who employs, or on whose premises or in whose interest is employed, any seasonal farm worker.

Any person who engages in such activity for the purpose of obtaining seasonal farm workers of any foreign nation for employment in the United States if the employment is subject to: (i) an agreement between the United States and such foreign nation; or (ii) an arrangement with the government of any foreign nation under which written contracts for the employment of such workers are provided for through the United States by an instrumentality of such foreign nation.

For More Information

For more information regarding Pennsylvania's Seasonal Farm Labor Act, see the Pennsylvania Department of Labor's Seasonal Farm Labor Law webpage

Federal Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (MSPA)

The MSPA is intended to supplement state law and assist in protecting migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. Compliance with MSPA does not excuse any person from complying with appropriate state law and regulation.

Who Must Comply?

• Agricultural employers. An "agricultural employer" is "any person who owns or operates a farm, ranch, processing establishment, cannery, gin, packing shed, or nursery, or who produces or conditions seed, and who either recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, or transports any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker (defined below)" (29 U.S.C. § 1802(2)).
• Farm labor contractors. A "farm labor contractor" is "any person, other than an agricultural employer, an agricultural association, or an employee of an agricultural employer or agricultural association, who, for money or other valuable consideration paid or promised to be paid, performs any farm labor contracting activity . . . [such as] recruiting, soliciting, hiring, employing, furnishing, or transporting any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker" (29 U.S.C. § 1802(2)).

Note: Agricultural employers and farm labor contractors may be jointly responsible for the requirements of this act. In other words, if the farm labor contractor does not comply with the Act's requirements, the agricultural employer is responsible, regardless of whether the farm labor contractor qualifies as an independent contractor. Consider the following factors to determine whether an employer is jointly responsible with the farm labor contractor:

• Whether the agricultural employer has the power, either alone or through control of the farm labor contractor, to direct, control, or supervise the worker(s) or the work performed
• Whether the agricultural employer has the power, either alone or in addition to another employer, directly or indirectly, to hire or fire, modify the employment conditions, or determine the pay rates [or the methods of wage payment] for the worker(s)
• The degree of permanency and duration of the relationship of the parties, in the context of the agricultural activity at issue
• The extent to which the services rendered by the worker(s) are repetitive, rote tasks requiring skills that are acquired with relatively little training
• Whether the activities performed by the worker(s) are an integral part of the overall business operation of the agricultural employer/association
• Whether the agricultural employer/association's premises, rather than on premises owned or controlled by another business entity
• Whether the agricultural employer/association undertakes responsibilities in relation to the worker(s) which are commonly performed by employer, such as preparing and/or making payroll records, preparing and/or issuing pay checks, paying FICA taxes, providing workers' compensation insurance, providing field sanitation facilities, housing or transportation, or providing tools and equipment or materials required for the job (taking into account the amount of the investment)

This list was drawn directly from the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division's Fact Sheet #35: "Joint Employment and Independent Contractors Under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act." 

Key Terms and What They Mean

A "migrant agricultural worker" is an "individual employed in agriculture on a seasonal or other temporary basis, and who is required to be absent overnight from his or her permanent place of residence." NOTE: This term does not include members of the immediate family of a farm labor contractor or an agricultural employer, or temporary non-immigrant H-2A alien workers.

A "seasonal agricultural worker" is "an individual who is employed in agricultural employment of a seasonal or other temporary nature and is not required to be absent overnight from his permanent place of residence – (i) when employed on a farm or ranch performing field work related to planting, cultivating, or harvesting operations; or (ii) when employed in canning, packing, ginning, seed conditioning or related research, or processing operations, and transported, or caused to be transported, to or from the place of employment by means of a day-haul operation [pick-up and return on the same day]" (29 U.S.C. § 1802(10)(A)(i)–(ii)). NOTE: This term "does not include any migrant agricultural worker; any immediate family member of an agricultural employer or farm labor contractor" or temporary non immigrant agricultural H-2A alien workers (29 U.S.C. § 1802(B)(i)–(iii)).

Who Is Exempt?

• Family businesses. The act is not applicable to an individual who engages in farm labor contracting activities on behalf of a farm owned or operated by that person or an immediate family member, if the activities are performed only for such operation and exclusively by such individual or an immediate family member
• Small businesses. The act is not applicable to an employer who employs fewer than 500 "man days" of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year. This is the same standard as the Fair Labor Standards Act exemption from federal minimum wage requirements
• A person whose labor-contracting activities are conducted within a 25-mile radius of the person’s permanent residence and for not more than 13 weeks per year.
• Common carriers whose only connection with agriculture is the transport of migrant or seasonal agricultural workers.
• Nonprofit charitable organizations and public and private educational institutions.
• Custom combining, hay-harvesting, or sheep-shearing operations.
• Custom poultry harvesting, breeding, debeaking, desexing, or health service operations.
• Some students serving apprenticeships and some employees of seed and tobacco producers.

For the complete list, see 29 U.S.C. § 1803(a)(1)-(3).

What Does the Act Require?

• Farm labor contractors must have a certificate of registration.
• Agricultural employers must confirm that the farm labor contractor is registered.
• Farm labor contractors, agricultural employers, and agricultural associations that recruit migrant and/or seasonal agricultural workers must disclose in writing the following information to such workers:
  • Place of employment
  • Wage rates to be paid
  • Crops and kinds of work activity on which worker may be employed
  • Period of employment
  • Transportation, housing, and any other employee benefits to be provided, if any, and costs to be charged for each of them
  • Existence of any strike or other concerted work stoppage, slowdown, or interruption of operations by employees at the place of employment
  • Any arrangements with any owner or agent of any establishment in the area of employment under which the farm labor contractor, the agricultural employer, or the agricultural association is to receive a commission or any other benefit resulting from any sales by such establishment to the workers
  • Whether state workers' compensation insurance is provided, and, if so, the name of the State workers' compensation insurance carrier, the name of the policyholder of such insurance, the name and the telephone number of each person who must be notified of an injury or death, and the time period within which such notice must be given

The list above was drawn directly from 29 U.S.C. § 1821(a)(1)-(8).

Compliance with number eight on the list may be met if the worker is given a photocopy of any notice regarding workers’ compensation insurance required by law of the state in which the worker is employed. The worker must be given the disclosure at the time of recruitment or, if sufficient information is unavailable at that time, at the earliest practicable time, but no later than the commencement of work.

Farm labor contractors, agricultural employers, and agricultural associations that recruit migrant agricultural workers must post the above information in English, Spanish, or another language common to the workers.

Those that own or control facilities used to house migrant workers are responsible for having these facilities meet federal and state safety and health standards.

For further details, see "Migrant Labor Housing" (below).

Each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer, or agricultural association that recruits migrant agricultural workers must maintain for three years those records dealing with:

• The basis for wages paid
• Piece work units earned
• Sums withheld and purpose of withholding
• Number of hours worked
• Total pay period earnings
• Net pay

Provide to each such worker for each pay period, an itemized written statement of the information

The list above was drawn from 29 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(1)-(2)

When using any vehicle to provide transportation, each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer, and agricultural association that recruits migrant workers must ensure:

• The vehicle conforms to federal and state safety standards
• Drivers are validly licensed
• An insurance policy or liability bond in the minimum amount of $100,000 per seat in the vehicle (the total amount required is not more than $5,000,000) is in force to cover property damage and personal injury

For more information on transportation, see 29 U.S.C. § 1841(a)-(d) and U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #50: Transportation under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

Use of machinery and equipment while actually engaged in planting, harvesting, etc., is exempt from this requirement. 

Note: The required level of insurance is that required of a common carrier under federal law, but if a contractor, employer, or association maintains workers' compensation coverage for its workers and this coverage includes transporting workers, then no additional insurance is necessary and the workers' compensation policy may meet the insurance requirement. This decision requires a thorough review of the existing policy with an insurance adviser.

For More Information

For more information regarding the federal Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act, see the United States Department of Labor's Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) webpage 

Migrant Labor Housing- Federal and State regulations

Who Must Comply?

Any individual or entity who supplies housing to migrant workers is subject to federal housing standards. There are exemptions for small employers and camp operators who provide the same housing to the general public on a commercial basis. These regulations will not apply if a person "in the ordinary course of that person's business, regularly provides housing on a commercial basis to the general public and who provides housing to migrant agricultural workers of the same character and on the same or comparable terms and conditions as is provided to the general public" (29 U.S.C. 1823(c)).

What Do the Regulations Require?

Before migrant labor housing can be occupied, a state or local health authority or other appropriate agency must certify that the facility meets all applicable safety and health standards, including federal and state regulations. A copy of the certification must be posted at the site. Certification prior to occupancy will not prevent the housing provider from being assessed penalties for violations that occur after occupancy has begun.

Note: "If a request for an inspection of a facility or real property is made to the appropriate State, local or Federal agency at least forty-five (45) days prior to the date on which it is to be occupied by a migrant agricultural worker but the agency has not conducted an inspection by such date, the facility or property may be occupied by migrant agricultural workers unless prohibited by State law." (29 C.F.R § 500.135[c]).

Migrant labor housing owned by growers and crew leaders subject to the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act (see previous section) must be registered, inspected, and approved by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Specific requirements have been set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and include standards regarding the following items:

• Housing sites
• Shelter and housing
• Water supply
• Toilet facilities
• Sewage disposal
• Laundry, handwashing, and bathing facilities
• Electrical lighting
• Refuse and garbage disposal
• Cooling and eating facilities
• Screening, insect, and rodent control
• Fire safety and first-aid facilities
• Reporting of communicable diseases

Note: There are two applicable housing regulations depending on when the housing was built. If the housing construction "was begun on or after April 3, 1980, and which was not under a contract for construction as of March 4, 1980, [owner or operator] shall comply with the substantive Federal safety and health standards promulgated by OSHA at 29 CFR 1910.142" (29 C.F.R. § 500.132(a)(1)). If the housing was "completed or under construction prior to April 3, 1980, or which was under a contract for construction prior to March 4, 1980, [owner or operator] may elect to comply with either the substantive Federal safety and health standards promulgated by OSHA at 29 CFR 1910.142 or the standards promulgated by ETA at 20 CFR 654.404 et seq" (29 C.F.R. § 500.132(a)(1)).

The Employment Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor must approve migrant labor housing before it will supply workers to the operation.

OSHA has the authority to inspect any farm labor housing facility in response to a complaint, a report of an injury or accident, or on a random basis. No registration is required under OSHA regulations.

Migrant Labor Housing—Pennsylvania Regulations

Purpose

With authority drawn from the Seasonal Farm Labor Act, regulations for seasonal farm labor camps set standards for permits, plans, sites, and camp housing. Under housing requirements, regulations cover:

• Occupancy
• Sleeping room contents
• Cleanliness
• Water supply
• Plumbing
• Toilet facilities
• Sewage disposal
• Laundry, handwashing, and bathing facilities
• Lighting and electrical
• Refuse
• Food service
• Insect and rodent control
• First-aid and fire prevention
• Exits and entrances

Other sections deal with occupants' concurrent responsibilities and obligations of owners and operators. These regulations can be found in the Pennsylvania Code, Title 7, Chapter 82, and contains detailed standards for each category listed above. For the complete Chapter 82 "Seasonal Farm Labor Camps," visit PA Bulletin, or chapter 82  

Who Must Comply?

All employers of migrant and seasonal farm labor in Pennsylvania that provide living quarters for four or more unrelated farm workers are subject to the regulations. If an employee has been employed for less than one year, the employee is presumed to be a seasonal one, unless the employer can prove otherwise.

What Do the Regulations Require?

Plans for the construction, remodeling, or alteration of farm labor camps must be approved by the governing agency before work on the changes may begin.

All seasonal farm labor camps must have a permit from the governing agency. A permit is valid for one year. Initial applications for new camps must be submitted 60 days prior to occupancy. Currently operating farm labor camps will receive a renewal application 60 days prior to the expiration of their current permit.

All camps must be ready for inspection by the governing agency at least 45 days prior to occupancy. Violations may cause the camp to be reinspected before a permit is issued. Continued noncompliance with regulations may cause the agency to levy fines or revoke the operating permit.

Upon receipt of a permit, the camp owner or operator must post the permit at a prominent location that is readily accessible.

For More Information

For information regarding Migrant Labor Housing, see the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's  Seasonal Farm Labor Camps webpage.

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is intended to provide a means for employees to balance their work and family responsibilities by taking unpaid leave for certain reasons. The act is intended to promote the stability and economic security of families as well as the nation's interest in preserving the integrity of families.

Who Is Covered?

The FMLA applies to any employer in the private sector who engages in commerce, or in any industry or activity affecting commerce, and which has 50 or more employees each working day during at least 20 calendar weeks (which do not need to be consecutive) in the current or preceding calendar year.

The law covers all public agencies (state and local governments) and local education agencies (schools, whether public or private). These employers do not need to meet the "50 employee" test. Title II of FMLA covers most federal employees, who are subject to regulations issued by the Office of Personnel Management.

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an individual must (1) be employed by a covered employer and work at a worksite within 75 miles of which that employer employs at least 50 people; (2) have worked at least 12 months (which do not have to be consecutive) for the employer; and (3) have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months immediately before the date FMLA leave begins.

Basic Provisions/Requirements

FMLA provides an entitlement of up to 12 work weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period for the following reasons:

• Birth and care of the employee's child, or placement for adoption or foster care of a child with the employee
• Care of an employee's spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition
• Care of the employee's own serious health condition rendering them incapable of performing job duties
• Exigent circumstances arising from the fact that the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on "covered active duty"

FMLA also provides an entitlement of up to 26 work weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period for care of a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the employee is the service member's spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin.

If an employee was receiving group health benefits when leave began, an employer must maintain them at the same level and in the same manner during periods of FMLA leave as if the employee had continued to work. Usually, an employee may elect (or the employer may require) the use of any accrued paid leave (vacation, sick, personal, etc.) for periods of unpaid FMLA leave.

Employees may take FMLA leave in blocks of time less than the full 12 weeks on an intermittent or reduced leave basis when medically necessary. Taking intermittent leave for the placement, adoption, or foster care of a child is subject to the employer's approval. Intermittent leave taken for the birth and care of a child is also subject to the employer's approval, except for pregnancy-related leave that would be leave for a serious health condition.

When the need for leave is foreseeable, an employee must give the employer at least 30 days' notice, or as much notice as is practicable. When the leave is not foreseeable, the employee must provide such notice as soon as possible.

An employer may require medical certification of a serious health condition from the employee's health care provider. An employer may also require periodic reports during the period of leave of the employee’s status and intent to return to work, as well as "fitness for duty" certification upon return to work in appropriate situations.

An employee who returns from FMLA leave is entitled to be restored to the same or an equivalent job (defined as one with equivalent pay, benefits, responsibilities, etc.). The employee is not entitled to accrue benefits during periods of unpaid FMLA leave, but the employer must return him or her to employment with the same benefits at the same levels as existed when leave began.

Employers are required to post a notice for employees outlining the basic provisions of FMLA and are subject to a civil money penalty for each offense for willfully failing to post such notice. If a substantial portion of employees cannot read English, the notice must be posted in a language the employees can read. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against or interfering with employees who take FMLA leave.

Employee Rights

FMLA provides that eligible employees of covered employers have a right to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in any 12-month period for qualifying events without interference or restraint from their employers. FMLA gives employees the right to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration, file a private lawsuit under the act (or cause a complaint or lawsuit to be filed), and testify or cooperate in other ways with an investigation or lawsuit without being fired or discriminated against in any other manner.

Penalties/Sanctions

Employees and other persons may file complaints with the Employment Standards Administration (usually through the nearest office of the Wage and Hour Division). The Department of Labor may file suit to ensure compliance and recover damages if a complaint cannot be resolved administratively. Employees also have private rights of action, without involvement of the Department of Labor, to correct violations and recover damages through the courts.

Relation to State, Local, and Other Federal Laws

Several states have family leave statutes. Nothing in FMLA supersedes a provision of state law that is more beneficial to the employee, and employers must comply with the more beneficial provision. Under some circumstances, an employee with a disability may have rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

For More Information

For more information regarding the FMLA, see their website. Also see the Family and Medical Leave Act Employer Guide.

Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) determines benefits and requirements based on whether an employer is considered to be an "applicable large employer" (ALE). Under ACA, an employer is considered to be ALE if it employs 50 or more full-time employees. Nevertheless, the ACA does provide employers with a seasonal worker exception. According to ACA, "An Employer shall not be considered to employ more than 50 full-time employees if (I) the employer's workforce exceeds 50 full-time employees for 120 days or fewer during the calendar year, and (II) the employees in excess of 50 employed during such 120-day period were seasonal workers. (ii) Definition of seasonal workers: The term 'seasonal worker' means a worker who performs labor or services on a seasonal basis as defined by the Secretary of Labor" (26 U.S.C. § 4980H(c)(2)(B)(i)–(ii)). According to the IRS, "Employers may apply a reasonable, good faith interpretation of the term 'seasonal worker' and a reasonable, good faith interpretation of the Department of Labor's definition of seasonal worker. . . . These exceptions apply solely for purposes of determining whether an employer is an ALE" (IRS, ALE Info Center, "Questions and Answers on Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions  Under the Affordable Care Act, question #27."

For More Information

For more information regarding the Affordable Care Act, see IRS website.