issues are surfacing in many different industries that could impact agricultural employees. He said one case involves ambulance drivers who are on-call. Should that be paid time? While it is not a direct comparison, he said produce truck drivers might ask the same question about their work. He also reminded growers that using a farm labor contractor is not a shield from liability. Many court cases have held that the grower is responsible for the miscalculations of a labor contractor when it comes to wage and hour issues. “If you are using a labor contractor, you better be auditing them to make sure they are in compliance with all the regulations,” he said. O’Connor said that some employers are demanding greater control over the contracted workforce noting that if they have liability, which they do, they should have more control. Western Growers’ Resnick said sexual harassment issues are just as important in agriculture as they are in the high profile
Fire, which ignited in early December of 2017. When power lines are involved, power companies are liable and victims are typically made whole through the filing of lawsuits. While many lawsuits have been filed by avocado growers and other agriculturalists because of the Thomas Fire, Caine said not all growers have filed their suits yet. He urged them do so. “Those cases are moving. All the cases have been consolidated into one court room and the process has begun.” While statute of limitation laws generally give victims two to three years to file a suit, Caine urged growers to do so quickly to be on the ground floor of settlement discussions. He argued that there is no reason to wait and those who file first will generally have their cases settled first. He said these wildfire cases are classified as “mass torts” not class action suits. The circumstances of each victim is different and so the settlements are individual.
cases that have made the front pages of our daily newspapers over the last year. He said all employees have the right to do their jobs in safe work environments and not be subject to sexual harassment. Employers need to train their employees and supervisors and not tolerate unsafe working conditions. He said the #metoo movement cuts across all industries and agricultural employers are not immune to the shine of the spotlight on offending supervisors. Another issue that has been in the news quite a bit over the last year is California wild fires. Shawn Caine, who operates a law firm of the same name, is a wildfire specialist, who has been litigating wildfire liability for more than two decades. “California has suffered some of the most dramatic and catastrophic wild fires in the last three to four years,” he said, adding that the catastrophic label is measured by the many lives these fires have taken. From his perspective, Caine said drying forests, increased fuel in the forests and more urban interface in the wild are the chief causes of the devastation of these fires. His specialty is litigating wildfires that are caused by power lines. While that is not always the case, power companies are often the culprit. Caine said there were 16 wildfires in Northern California in the fall of 2017 with each of them caused by power lines in one way or another. Power lines were also the cause of Ventura County’s devastating Thomas
Jeff Gilles, managing partner of JRG Attorneys at Law with several offices in the Salinas Valley area, is another attorney with a perspective on current legal issues facing the industry. “Over-regulation is the biggest problem,” he said, adding that it is the “unintended consequences” of many regulations that cause the biggest concern for agriculture and the majority of work for ag attorneys. He also noted that, like many grower-shippers, JRG has expanded significantly in the past several years by acquiring several law firms that specialize in other areas of the law. The latest acquisition was the purchase of LaRiviere, Grubman PC, a firm specializing in intellectual property rights. With the industry looking for new solutions to old problems, Gilles said intellectual property law is a driver of new business for lawyers. New technology development means more patent and trademark work. The firm also has experts working on cannabis law. Gilles calls it “just another ag item” that faces many of the same legal issues as other crops … and of course many more as well. But he said these companies operating in the cannabis arena are facing labor issues, wage and hour regulations, human resource problems, concerns about distribution and the need to protect variety development. He believes it is only a matter of time that they face attempts to unionize the cannabis shop.
20 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2018
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker