Farm Workers

Job description

Perform manual labor to pull, bundle, bag, load, and unload Vidalia onion plants onto trucks and plant sprouts. Unload bundles of plants into baskets and throw plants onto beds, transplant into prepared holes and cover holes with dirt (according to supervisor's instructions). Duties may include tilling soil, weeding or thinning crops; counting and checking onion plants. Set up and operate irrigation equipment. Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant and cultivate crops. Inform farmers or farm managers of crop progress. Prepare, clean up, and maintain fields. Workers are also responsible for farm and field sanitation including picking up trash, cleaning bathrooms and other farm and field sanitation duties. Remove unnecessary growth from specific fields. Must assist with all Good Agricultural Practices policies.

Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, honey bees, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or related chemicals may affect a worker's ability to perform the job. Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. Employer reserves the right to discharge an obviously unqualified worker, malingerer or recalcitrant worker who is physically able but is unwilling to perform the work necessary for the employer to grow a premium quality product, or for any other lawful reason.

Employer may request, but not require, workers to work more than the stated daily hours and/or on a worker's Sabbath or federal holidays. Workers will have an unpaid lunch break. Worker must report to work at designated time and place each day. Daily or weekly work schedule may vary due to weather, sunlight, temperature, crop conditions, and other factors. Employer will notify workers of any change to start time.

TERMINATION. All workers will be subject to a 2 day introductory period, during which the employer will evaluate workers' performance of required tasks. Employer reserves the right to terminate a worker at the conclusion of the 2 day introductory period if the worker's performance fails to satisfy the employer's reasonable expectations, or is otherwise unacceptable. Employer may terminate a worker for lawful job-related reasons, including but not limited to situations in which the worker: (1) Is repeatedly absent or tardy; (2) malingers or otherwise refuses, without cause, to perform the work as directed; (3) commits act(s) of misconduct or repeatedly violates the Work Rules; and/or (4) fails, after completing the 2 day introductory period, to perform work in a competent and skillful manner, consistent with the employer's reasonable expectations. Non-U.S. workers may be displaced as a result of one or more U.S. workers becoming available for the job during the employer's recruitment period. Job abandonment will be deemed to occur after five consecutive workdays of unexcused absences. Workers may not report for work under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Possession or use of illegal drugs or alcohol on company premises is prohibited and will be cause for immediate termination. Regardless of whether the employer requires a background check as a condition of employment, the employer may terminate for cause, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, any worker found during the period of employment to have a criminal conviction record or status as a registered sex offender that the employer reasonably believes will endanger the safety or welfare of other workers, company staff, customers, or the public at large.

Special Requirements

Three months of verbal commercial vegetable farm work experience required. Prolonged walking, bending, reaching, lifting, carrying and loading up to 60 lbs. Work in cold and/or wet weather. Drug testing is conducted post hire at the employers expense and is not part of the interview process. Negative results are required before starting work.