A bill aimed at informing H-2A guest workers of their housing and labor rights passed another committee this week. Following a new amendment, the measure also requires ag employers to notify the visiting workers of rights to certain lighting equipment for night work, based on a new Cal/OSHA regulation.
Industry advocates took issue with the bill requiring ag employers to pay for travel time to the job site. Mathew Allen of Western Growers said this would change state law by mandating voluntary travel time be compensated. He also called SB 1102 “extraordinarily problematic” in granting tenancy rights to employees, since employers must provide that housing under the H-2A contract.
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The California Farm Bureau’s Bryan Little listed the ways employers are already required to notify workers of their rights.
The committee passed the measure along party lines.
