Nursery Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
Bedding Plants.
This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working on a diversified crop farm or nursery handling manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Plants, cultivates and maintains bedding plants in condition for shipping and sale to customers. Pots seedlings, prunes, transplants, spaces, irrigates and culls plants to ensure availability of marketable products. Packs, labels, pulls and stores plants according to variety. May uncover and/or recover winter storage houses. Weeds, mows, loads/unloads truck and wagons. May operate tractors and other mechanical equipment under supervision. Performs any other duties involved in the maintenance of plant materials and nursery stock and maintenance of holding yards and shipping areas.

Work is to be done for long periods of time. Workers are expected to perform duties including boxing, weighing and loading of product. Workers will assist in loading trucks with packaged product weighing up to and including 60 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet for long periods of time. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers’ ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day, working in fields. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations. Saturday work required.

In addition, workers may be required to perform variable tasks such as the following: irrigation, ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, ground preparation, weeding and other tasks related to nursery operation.

Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, cultivators and other equipment. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction.

While the employer does not require prospective applicants to take and pass a drug test prior to a hiring decision, the employer has a no-exceptions drug policy requiring newly-hired employees to take and pass an employer-paid drug and alcohol test. Every new hire and returning seasonal worker must undergo testing before start working with the company. All testing is conducted uniformly after an initial job offer has been extended and accepted by the new hire. If an employee tests positive, he/she is immediately terminated and paid for all hours worked between the first date of employment and the date of termination, if any. In the case of a non-local or foreign worker who is terminated for cause resulting from failure to pass a drug/alcohol test, the employer will arrange least-cost transportation to the worker's place of recruitment, at the worker's expense. The employer will also test at random, upon reasonable suspicion of use, and after a worker has an accident at work.

Employer assures that workers will be provided transportation from living quarters to work site every day (for workers who must be provided housing under the applicable regulations.)

Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establish job reference(s) from recent employer(s) establishing acceptable prior experience. Successful applicants will be subject to a trial period of up to 5 days during which their performance of required tasks will be evaluated.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working on a diversified crop farm or nursery handling manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. Post-hire employer-paid drug and alcohol testing required