Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop

Job description

Harvesting Sweet Potato period: The worker will grade and pick each sweet potato up from the ground and place into a 5/8-bushel bucket that will be given at the beginning of the harvest season. There are 2 types of sweet potato grades that require harvesting at once which are number 1’s (large potato) and seed (small potato’s). The worker must first select number 1’s placing them in a 5/8-bushel bucket, once the bucket is completely full, the worker will take the bucket to the front of the truck and another worker will dump the sweet potatoes in a box on the truck. A small ticket will be given to the harvesting worker to keep and a total will be counted at the end of each day. The workers will then go back to the picking area where they left off and do this process a few more times until there is enough to begin filling up the bucket with seed sweet potato. Once the bucket is completely full of seed sweet potato the worker will take the bucket to the back of the truck and another worker will dump the bucket into a box. The worker will go back to his picking area and fill his bucket up with number 1 sweet potato and do the entire process again until there is enough seed to fill up a bucket. Sweet potato must be placed in the buckets gently so they do not scar or bruise. If the buckets are not completely full then they will not be accepted. 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 provide 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. Some workers may need to help unload the sweet potato boxes off the truck and be placed in the sweet potato house using a forklift.
General Maintenance: Workers on physical work restrictions or when harvesting work is not available may be required to perform miscellaneous clean-up work on work site property, on structures utilized in the work site operation, and on housing for harvesting workers. Such clean-up activities include the sprouting, pruning, and painting of trees; debris, weed, and vine removal; irrigation repair; housing and structure cleaning and repair.

The employer will provide 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 the contract period, the hours will be deducted from the hours offered under the ETA 790A for the purposes of the three-quarter guarantee.

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.