More Money for 

Since February 2016, LARA Wage and Hour has decided to no longer enforce minimum wage on certain small farms.  But workers who dare to stand up for themselves are still able to ask the courts to enforce their minimum wage rights. Just this month, Migrant Legal Aid has successfully recovered thousands of dollars for a pair of farmworker clients who stood up for their rights, despite extreme fears of being blacklisted. MLA brought the claims directly, on behalf of the workers, in a lawsuit filed with the court.  As a result, their Coopersville employer paid all of the workers' minimum wage damages, plus statutory damages under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. In addition, costs and attorney fees were recovered for the agency --a helpful deterrent from future violations.  Some MLA clients returned to work for the employer.

Why some Michigan farm workers still aren't making minimum wage

LARA Wage and Hour not protecting the most vulerable farmworkers' minimum wages.

Major Changes in Worker Protection Pesticide Rules

 

On January 2nd the EPA's new  Agricultural Worker Protection Standard rules, regarding how farmers and farmworkers should handle pesticides and record-keeping, went into effect.

US EPA Implements New Farmworker Protection Rules

 

The US EPA has ignored a plea by state agriculture officials and the American Farm Bureau Federation to delay implementation of federalrules crafted to boost protections for farmworkers and their families frompesticide exposures.

Why so many fatal crashes for migrant workers? 

Two decades after the 1963 crashes that caused 59 migrant farmworker deathes, Congress passed the  Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act (MSPA) to offer broader safeguards to these workers, notably in their transportation. But large numbers continue to be killed and maimed on the roads.

Undocumented immigrants and their kids anxious about Trump presidency 

Many people of the undocumented community are fearful for what may happen to their families and children at school who are here under a program for children of undocumented immigrants when Donald Trump takes presidency. 

Pesticide mixtures could pose increased risk to farmworkers, pollinators

Environmentalists and farmworker rights advocates are standing up to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about the latest point of concern in the world of pesticides: synergy, or the mixture of pesticides with other chemicals that enhance their toxic effects.

MLA is dedicated to defending and preserving farmworker jobs, dignity, health, income, and legal rights.  

 

Sincerely,