Requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week like other workers in New York state; defines "farm labor"; mandates the use of farm labor work agreements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1007
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DelMONTE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GIGLIO
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to allowing farm workers one
day of rest each week and mandating the use of farm labor work agree-
ments
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 161 of the labor law is amended by
2 adding a new third undesignated paragraph to read as follows:
3 Every person employed as a farm laborer shall be allowed at least
4 twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each and every consecutive
5 seven day period. This requirement shall not apply to the parent, child,
6 spouse or other member of the employer's immediate family. Twenty-four
7 consecutive hours spent at rest because of circumstances, such as weath-
8 er or crop conditions, shall be deemed to constitute the rest required
9 by this paragraph. No provision of this paragraph shall prohibit a farm
10 laborer from voluntarily refusing the rest required by this paragraph.
11 This paragraph shall not prohibit a farm laborer from voluntarily refus-
12 ing the rest required by this paragraph. The term "farm labor" shall
13 include all services performed on a farm in connection with cultivating
14 the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting of agricultural
15 commodities, including the raising, shearing, caring for and management
16 of livestock, poultry or dairy. Each farm employer shall notify his or
17 her farm laborers of the twenty-four consecutive hours of rest period
18 required by this paragraph by posting such paragraph in a designated
19 central posting area and by including such paragraph within the work
20 agreement required pursuant to section six hundred seventy-nine of this
21 chapter.
22 § 2. Section 679 of the labor law is amended by adding a new third
23 undesignated paragraph to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00890-01-9
A. 1007 2
1 Every employer shall keep a true and accurate statement of the terms
2 and conditions of employment or work agreement, executed between the
3 agricultural employee and the agricultural employer on the date of hire
4 for the purposes of notifying each employee, in writing, of the condi-
5 tions of employment. Such agreement shall include the specific location
6 where the employee will work, the type of work to be performed, the
7 hours for a standard work week and work day, notification of the volun-
8 tary twenty-four hours of consecutive rest period, housing arrangements,
9 if applicable, any allowances, if applicable, to be deducted for meals
10 or lodging, the wage rate to be paid, the list of benefits to be
11 provided by the employer, the approximate period of employment, trans-
12 portation arrangements, if any, and the workers' compensation insurance
13 carrier. A sample form shall be provided by the commissioner in both
14 English and Spanish.
15 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 564 of the labor law is renumbered
16 subdivision 3 and a new subdivision 2 is added to read as follows:
17 2. Exclusion from coverage. The term "employment" does not include
18 services rendered by an individual who is an alien admitted to the
19 United States to perform agricultural labor pursuant to 8 USC 1184(c)
20 and 8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H) of the federal immigration and nationality act
21 if, at the time such services are rendered, they are excluded from the
22 definition of employment as provided in 26 USC 3306(c) of the federal
23 unemployment tax act.
24 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
