In response to concerns raised by Western Growers and industry partners, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has issued a revised Supplemental Notice to H-2A Employees, which addresses most of industry’s concerns.
As reported here, the agricultural coalition sent a letter to DIR objecting to several aspects of the notice, which misstated the law. The effective date for issuing the notice was March 15, 2024.
In response to industry’s concerns, the revised notice corrects misstatements of law surrounding the requirements to provide meal periods, paid sick leave and housing. The list of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as resources has been replaced with a CR code providing access to the names and contact information of the NGOs.
With regard to compensable travel time, the ag coalition emphasized that the original notice’s language improperly stated that employees must be paid for time spent while being transported by their employer to and from the housing to the worksite, if they are “directly or indirectly required to use employer-provided transportation.” The revised notice instead states that employees must be paid for travel time if they “are required to or have no real choice but to use employer-provided transportation.” Western Growers has pointed out to DIR that the revised notice also misstates the law to the extent it is broader than the “employer required transportation” language set forth in the seminal case, Morillion v. Royal Packing Co.
Western Growers appreciates DIR’s willingness to address most of industry’s concerns and substantially revising the supplemental notice with recommended corrective language. H-2A employers should immediately replace the original Supplemental Notice with the revised version, which is also available in Spanish.
https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/2810.5-Supplemental-Notice-to-H-2A-Employees_English.pdf
https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/2810.5-Supplemental-Notice-to-H-2A-Employees_Spanish.pdf