Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop

Job description

Workers will perform assign duties as instructed by their supervisor.
Planting of fruits and vegetables: A tractor will go over the fields making holes for the plants to go in, workers will grab a container of plants from the wagon or truck, walking down the rows the worker will put one plants per hole, when finish with the container of plants, the worker will walk back to the wagon or truck and grab another set of plants, repeating the process through the work day.
Harvesting of fruits and vegetables: Once at the picking location, doing a row at a time, workers will move down the rows plucking the fruits and vegetables from the plants and putting them in a container. Once the container is full the worker will take the container back to the wagon or truck and dump or replace the container for a new one. The worker will go back to his picking area and fill his container up again, repeating the process through the work day.
Field Maintenance: workers will do overhead irrigation, lay plastic, tie, stake, prune, weed, clean micro jets, collect and dispose trash and remove plastic and drip lines from fields using their hands and tools provided by employer.
Watermelon: the worker will walk down the watermelon field rows where the watermelon will be harvested. The worker will first cut the vine off the watermelon with a small knife and turn the watermelon over. The worker will bend over harvesting the ripe watermelon which can vary in weight from 20 to 60 lbs. from the ground and tossing the watermelon to the worker next to him and this worker will toss the watermelon to the next worker and so on, until the watermelon is then tossed to the person inside the bus who will place the watermelon on the floor. Workers may be required to operate farm equipment.

The worker in order to perform this kind of work must be able to work outside for at least 6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and be in a possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance, working quickly and skillfully with their hands repeatedly. The employer will provides the tools necessary (if applicable) to perform the described job duties without charge to the worker. The employer will charge the worker for reasonable costs related to the worker’s refusal or negligent failure to return the tools or due such worker’s willful damage or destruction of the tools.

Employees may volunteer to work additional hours when work is available. Workers should expect occasional periods of little or no work because of weather, crop or other conditions beyond the employer’s control. These periods can occur any time throughout the season, if workers request a leave of absence during these periods of no work, the hours will be deducted from the hours offered under the ETA 790A.

A copy of the work contract or a copy of the ETA 790 in lieu of a work contract, and any modifications, will be provided to the H-2A worker no later than the time at which the worker applies for the Visa, or to a worker in corresponding employment, no later than on the day work commences. For an H-2A worker going from an H-2A employer to a subsequent H-2A employer, a copy of the contract will be provided no later than the time an offer of employment is made by the subsequent H-2A employer.

Special Requirements

This type of work, involves working conditions that require tremendous stamina, a high level of physical activity in cold or extremely hot conditions in direct sunlight and in adverse weather such as rain. The work requires a high level of physical conditioning. Due to the type of work involved, there is a Probationary Period of five (5) days beginning with the first day of employment, to show possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance to perform this type of work.