The Right to a Written Disclosure

The Right to a Written Disclosure: Know What the Deal Is

State and federal law protects you as a farmworker against false information given to you by a contractor, farmer, or other agricultural employer like a cannery or nursery. Your employer must give you a written "disclosure" or statement that explains the details of the job before you begin working. This way, you know what to expect from the job and there are no surprises later. It is illegal for the employer to break any of the conditions that s/he has put in the disclosure.

If you are a migrant farmworker you must get this disclosure when you are hired, and must get a new one every time you move to a different job or farm. If you are not a migrant you also have the right to a written disclosure if you ask. The disclosure must say:

• Where you will work and for whom
• The type of work and the crop harvested
• Your wage and how it is figured
• If there is a strike at the job
• When the job will start and stop
• If transportation or housing are provided, and the cost for each

Farms that are small and do not use anyone outside the family to recruit workers may not have to give you a written disclosure.

Special Requirements for Oregon Contractors

In Oregon, all contractors must have a license from the state and must give a written contract to every farmworker they recruit. If a contractor recruits you from one place and takes you somewhere else to work, but the work does not start when s/he said it would, the contractor has to give you free housing and food until the work begins. If the work starts more than 30 days late the contractor must pay for you to travel back home or to another work site.

6/2011