In most such cases, the definition of employment
relationships in the FLSA enables courts and the Department
of Labor to ensure compliance with the law by considering the
farm operator and the farm labor contractor to be ``joint
employers'' and jointly responsible for meeting FLSA's
obligations. This issue has been the subject of numerous
lawsuits in which farm operators have been held to be joint
employers with their farm labor contractors. This Committee played a historic role in addressing abuses
of migrant workers at the hands of farm operators and their
labor contractors and recognized the importance of the joint
employer concept in ensuring a law-abiding, prosperous
agricultural sector. The Farm Labor Contractor Registration
Act of 1964 was passed in part in response to the powerful
documentary by Edward R. Murrow, ``Harvest of Shame'' that
aired during Thanksgiving weekend in 1960. Congress revised
its provisions and replaced it with the Migrant and Seasonal
Agricultural Worker Protection Act of 1983, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1801 et seq. At the heart of this Committee's motivation
was ensuring joint employer responsibility.
``This broad scope of joint employment--and joint employer
liability--is one of the AWPA's most important features.
Keywords matched
Migrant migrant