Western Growers recently submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division in response to its proposed rulemaking on joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Family and Medical Leave Act and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. As discussed here, the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) proposes the adoption of a single joint-employer standard under all three statutes. In its comment letter, Western Growers expressed support for a clearer and more predictable joint employer framework, while urging DOL to recognize the unique operational realities of modern agricultural production.

Western Growers’ comments emphasized that agricultural employers, farm labor contractors, agricultural associations, housing providers, transportation providers and other service partners must routinely coordinate on matters such as harvest timing, crop maturity, weather interruptions, food-safety requirements, transportation logistics, worker arrivals, housing administration and regulatory compliance. Western Growers urged DOL to clarify that these ordinary business communications and compliance-related activities should not, standing alone, be treated as evidence of joint employer status.

The comment letter specifically asks DOL to distinguish between legitimate agricultural coordination and actual authority over essential terms and conditions of employment. Western Growers explained that a grower’s decisions about which field should be harvested, when harvest should begin or stop due to weather, or what food-safety protocols must be followed are agricultural production and compliance decisions—not necessarily employment decisions involving hiring, firing, discipline, compensation, payroll or supervision.

Western Growers also highlighted the increasingly specialized role of farm labor contractors, particularly within the H-2A program. Many modern FLCs provide significant workforce-administration and compliance services, including recruitment, visa processing, transportation coordination, housing administration, payroll, recordkeeping, worker onboarding and regulatory reporting. Western Growers cautioned that the use of licensed FLCs should not create any presumption of joint employment and that reliance on specialized compliance providers often promotes, rather than undermines, legal compliance.

The letter further urged DOL to incorporate agriculture-specific examples into the final rule or preamble. Western Growers requested clarification that harvest coordination, food-safety oversight, field-entry restrictions, weather-related work stoppages, housing inspection logistics, transportation coordination, resource-sharing arrangements and agricultural association support services do not, by themselves, make joint employer status more or less likely absent evidence of control over essential employment terms.

Regulatory certainty is especially important for agricultural employers because labor, housing, transportation and production decisions are often made months before work is performed. Western Growers warned that uncertainty surrounding joint employer standards could discourage growers from using specialized compliance resources, participating in cooperative arrangements or seeking assistance from agricultural associations, even when those arrangements support worker protections and regulatory compliance.

Western Growers urged DOL to adopt a final rule that preserves the ability of growers, agricultural associations and workforce providers to cooperate in ways that support agricultural productivity, food safety, workforce stability and worker protections, while maintaining the proper focus on whether an entity actually exercises or meaningfully reserves authority over essential employment terms.