#laborlaws

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Note: This website is intended to provide general information about legal issues, crop insurance, farm policy, and other risk management issues and should not be construed as providing legal advice. It should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority. For advice about how the issues discussed here might apply to your individual situation, you should consult an attorney.

Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog, provided by the University of Maryland Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

New 2019 H-2A Hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR) Take Effect Tomorrow

Nicole Cook

Jan 8, 2019
3 min

New 2019 H-2A Hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWR) Take Effect Tomorrow

By Nicole Cook This article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. With all eyes on the Farm Bill and the government shut down, you may have missed that on December 26, 2018, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Federal Register Notice announcing the new 2019 Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) in each state. The new AEWRs apply to the employment of temporary or seasonal nonimmigrant

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Maryland’s Healthy Working Families Act- How will it Impact the Farm?

Sarah Everhart

Feb 27, 2018
2 min

Maryland’s Healthy Working Families Act- How will it Impact the Farm?

By Sarah Everhart The article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. Following a legislative override of Governor Hogan’s veto, the Healthy Working Families Act went into effect in Maryland on February 11, 2018. The law requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide paid earned sick and safe leave (safe leave includes certain uses related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking committed against the employee or the

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Are you Using the New I-9 Form and Retaining the Forms Long Enough to Pass an Audit?

Sarah Everhart

Aug 29, 2017
2 min

Are you Using the New I-9 Form and Retaining the Forms Long Enough to Pass an Audit?

By Sarah Everhart This is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. At ALEI we posted previously about the importance of having I-9 forms for all farm employees. Briefly, the 1-9 form verifies the identity of workers and, if properly completed, is the basis of an employer’s defense to a claim of knowingly employing an unauthorized worker. The form is periodically updated, most recently on July 17, 2017. The new form replaces a version da

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New Overtime Laws: How Do They Affect The Farm?

Sarah Everhart

Oct 5, 2016
3 min

New Overtime Laws: How Do They Affect The Farm?

By Sarah Everhart The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires most employees to be paid at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay (time and one-half the regular rate of pay) for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek unless exempted from the law. Exemptions include employees who work in agriculture (as defined by the FLSA) and executive, administrative, and professional employees (the “white collar” employee exemption) who meet the U.S. Department of

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Apr 8, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Update: April 8th Edition

By Mayhah Suri Chesapeake College Unveils New Agriculture Degree The two-year program is an Agriculture Associate of Applied Science and is designed to cover all aspects of farming and the agriculture business, said Barbara Viniar, the college’s president. Nicole Fiorellino, the coordinator of agriculture program, said the degree involves 60 credit hours total, with about 20 credits of general education prerequisites. There are two tracks in the program — production and su

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Child Labor Laws in Agriculture: What You Need To Know

Admin

Oct 1, 2015
2 min

Child Labor Laws in Agriculture: What You Need To Know

By Ashley Ellixson Like many from agriculture families, I grew up working summers or even weekends on my family’s dairy. Working as a 12 year old may seem foreign to many but in the agriculture industry, it is a very common practice. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to ask, “Is this legal?” or “Are there laws I should know about in order to have the neighbor kids work here over the summer?” If you have, you are not the first and if you haven’t, you’re also

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Paul Goeringer