Beginning Farmer Center
Beginning Farmer Center

Agricultural Employment

dairy workers

Overview

Agricultural employers must comply with federal and state employment laws. When state laws differ from federal laws, employers must comply with whichever law is more stringent. Some rules are different for employers of agricultural employees than for employers of non-agricultural employees. A farmer may employ both agricultural employees and non-agricultural employees. The distinction is typically based on work activities. 

For additional information on Iowa laws applicable to agricultural employers read Applicability of Employment Laws to Iowa.

Employment Eligibility Verification 

Form I-9

  • Employers must verify each new employee’s identity and employment authorization with a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
  • The employee and the employer are responsible for completing sections of Form I-9 according to the Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
  • Employee must:
    • Complete Section 1 on their first day of employment.
    • Within 3 days, present to the employer original, acceptable, unexpired documents that establish the employee’s identity and employment authorization according to the I-9 instructions.
  • Employer must:
    • Complete Section 2 by the employee’s third day of employment (unless hire employee for less than 3 business days, then must complete on first day of employment)
    • Examine original documents presented by the employee to determine whether they reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the employee.
    • Retain the original Form I-9 for each employee while they are employed.
    • Retain the original I-9 for terminated employees for one year from the date employment ends, or three years after the first date of employment – whichever if later.
    • For additional information, Handbook for Employers M-274 | USCIS
    • Employers may choose to use E-Verify voluntarily unless state law requires employers to use it.
    • For additional information, see USCIS website I-9 Central

Employment Tax - Registration, Withholding, Filing

Employers have both federal and state requirements. 

Register as an Employer

 Income Tax Withholding

  • Obtain income tax withholding forms from new employees.
    • Federal Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate from each new employee (2025Form W-4)
    • State W-4 or equivalent if required by state
  • Withholding:
    • Employer is required to withhold federal income tax based on the employee’s completed federal W-4s and state W-4 (federal withholding is voluntary for H-2A workers)
      • Employer withholds FICA tax of 7.65% (H-2A worker wages are not subject to FICA)
  • Payroll Tax Deposits:
  • Filings

Guidance

New Hire Reporting 

  • Report new hires to the state within 20 days of hire unless the state requires reporting within fewer days.

Unemployment Tax

  • Employer must determine if it is a “covered employer” requiring the employer to register and pay unemployment tax on covered worker wages.
    • Agricultural employers who meet one of the following tests need to register and pay unemployment taxes:
      • Federal Test:
        • Paid $20,000 or more in gross wages to agricultural workers in any quarter of the current or previous calendar year OR
        • Employed 10 or more employees in some portion of a day in 20 separate weeks in the current or previous calendar year.
      • State Test:  
    • If an employer employs workers who are not agricultural workers, the threshold to determine if the employer is a covered employer is lower.
      • Federal:  Paid wages of $1,500 or more to employees in any calendar quarter this year or the previous year OR have one or more employees for at least some part of a day in any 20 or more different weeks in this year or the prior year.
        • State: Will differ by state.
          • Iowa: Paid wages in any calendar quarter, in either the current or preceding calendar year for service in employment.
  • Filing requirements for covered employers -
    • File Federal Form 940 annually by Jan 31 (or by Feb. 10 if deposited all FUTA tax when due) https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f940.pdf , see instructions https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i940
    • File state unemployment forms as required
      • Iowa: Quarterly reports due.
    • Note: H-2A worker wages are not subject to federal unemployment tax or state unemployment tax in most states; however, the wages are included in the test to determine whether the employer is a covered employer.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

  • Workers’ compensation insurance is a state requirement.
  • Iowa law requires most agricultural employers to either:
    • Have workers' compensation liability insurance or
    • Register as a self-insured employer
    • Exemption if pay less than $2,500 in preceding year
    • Certain family member wages are exempt, see Sec. 85.1(3)
    • Reporting Requirements – See Reporting | Department of Inspections, Appeals, & Licensing
    • Even if the employer is exempt from the requirement to have workers' compensation insurance, some employers choose to voluntarily participate.

Required Wage Rate

Employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage required by federal or state law, whichever is higher. Many employers choose to pay employees more than minimum wage to attract and retain good employees.

Minimum wage: 

Employers must pay federal or state minimum wage, whichever is greater (there are some exemptions listed below)

  • Federal minimum wage is $7.25
  • Many states have a minimum wage that is greater than the federal rate
  • Counties and cities in some states may have a higher minimum wage rate than the statewide rate for all work or for specified work.
    • Iowa does not have county, city minimum wage rates.
  • FLSA exemptions from minimum wage requirement
    • Small Farm Exemption:
      • Agricultural employer did not utilize more than 500 “man days” of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year.
        • A “man day” is defined as any day during which an employee performs agricultural work for at least one hour.
    • Agricultural employees who are immediate family members of their employer.
    • Employees principally engaged on the range in the production of livestock.
    • Local hand harvest laborers who commute daily from their permanent residence, are paid on a piece rate basis in traditionally piece-rated occupations and were engaged in agriculture less than thirteen weeks during the preceding calendar year.
    • Minors, 16 years of age or under, who are hand harvesters, paid on a piece rate basis in traditionally piece-rated occupations, employed on the same farm as their parent or person standing in the place of their parent, and paid the same piece rate as those over 16 years of age.
  • Youth minimum wage
    • FLSA allows employers to pay a youth minimum wage of not less than $4.25 an hour to employees who are under 20 years of age during the first 90 consecutive calendar days after initial employment.
    • In addition to wage, employers must follow hiring rules and safety provisions for youth workers. See Youth Employment below.
  • Employers have federal and state posting requirements. 

Overtime Pay

  • General Rule (federal/FLSA): Employees are entitled to overtime pay (1.5x pay) for every hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek.
  • Agricultural exemption from overtime
    • Agricultural activities include primary and secondary activities
      • Primary activities are exempt from overtime regardless of where the activities are performed. Primary agriculture includes farming in all its branches (e.g., the cultivation and tillage of the soil; dairying; the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities; and the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry).
      • Secondary agriculture includes all practices performed by a farmer or on a farm, and as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations.
      • Overtime exemption is considered on a weekly basis
      • If employee engages solely in exempt work (primary or secondary activities), the employee is exempt from federal overtime for that week.
      • If an employee engages in any nonexempt work, the overtime exemption is lost and the employee is entitled to overtime pay for that week for every hour worked over 40 hours.
  • Some states (not Iowa) have enacted laws that require overtime pay for agricultural employees when hours worked exceed a specified number of hours.

Recordkeeping Requirements 

  • The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to keep the following records for all employees. Records must be retained for 3 years.   
    • Full name
      • Address, including zip code
      • Social security number.
      • Birth date, if younger than 19 (see youth employment below)
      • Sex and occupation.
      • Time and day of week that workweek begins
      • Hours worked each day
      • Total hours worked each workweek
      • Basis on which wages are paid (e.g., "$9 per hour", "$440 a week", "piecework")
      • Regular hourly pay rate
      • Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings
      • Total overtime earnings for the workweek
      • All additions to or deductions from the employee's wages
      • Total wages paid each pay period
      • Date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment
      • Written consent of the parent or persons standing in place of the parent of the minor, if written consent is required (see youth employment below)
  • Employers must also keep records on which wage computations are based, such as those included in the following list. These must be maintained for two years.
    • Time cards
      • Piece work tickets
      • Wage rate tables
      • Work and time schedules
      • Records that support additions to or deductions from wages

Resources

Youth Employment

Agricultural employers often employ workers who are under 18 years of age.  The requirements for agricultural workers are different than those for non-farm workers. 

  • Federal Law
    • Age 16 and above - may work on any farm job at any time.
    • Age 14 and 15  - may work outside school hours in non-hazardous jobs (as determined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor)
    • Age 12 and 13 - may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs on farms that also employ their parent(s) or with written parental consent.
    • Under 12 – If very small farm (utilized less than 500 man hours of agricultural labor), may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs with parental consent
    • Parental Exemption: Children of any age may work at any time in any job on a farm owned or operated by their parents.
  • Hazardous jobs that cannot be done by workers under 16 are:
    • Operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any parts of the tractor;
    • Operating or working with any of the following:  a corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, mobile pea viner, feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer, power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking-type rotary tiller, trencher or earthmoving equipment, fork lift, potato combine, or power-driven circular, band or chain saw.
    • Working in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by:
      • a bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes;
      • a sow with suckling pigs;
      • a cow with a newborn calf (with umbilical cord present;
    • Felling, buckling, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with a butt diameter or more than 6 inches;
    • Working from a ladder or scaffold at a height of over 20 feet;
    • Driving a bus, truck or automobile to transport passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper;
    • Working inside:
      • a fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere;
      • an upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position;
      • a manure pit; or
      • a horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes;
    • Handling or applying toxic agricultural chemical identified by the words "danger," "poison," or "warning or a skull and crossbones on the label;
    • Handling or using explosives; and
    • Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.
  • Limited Exemptions –
    • 14 and 15-year old students enrolled in vocational agricultural programs are exempt from certain hazardous occupations when certain requirements are met
    • Minors aged 14 and 15 who hold certificates of completion of training under a 4-H or vocational agriculture training program (tractor operation or machine operation) may work outside school hours on equipment for which they have been trained.
    • Employer must keep copies of agreements, certificates of completion on file.
  • Many states have rules for youth employment in general and in agriculture.  Employers must comply with the more restrictive of the federal or state rules.
    • Iowa:
      • Age 14 and older may detassel corn during June-August
      • Age 14 and older may work in non-hazardous agricultural jobs 

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA)

Agricultural employers must comply with MSPA if they recruit, hire, employ, furnish, or transport any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker. There are limited exemptions – the  family farm exemption and the small farm exemption. 

  • A seasonal agricultural worker is one who is employed on a farm or ranch performing field work related to planting, cultivating, or harvesting operations on a seasonal or temporary basis.
  • MSPA imposes requirements above what is required by FLSA.
    • Employers are required to provide a written disclosure of work terms and conditions to migrant employees and seasonal employees, comply with specific recordkeeping requirements, post required notices, and comply with specified health and safety requirements related to the workplace, employee housing, and vehicles used to transport workers.
    • For specific requirements, see the following resources.

Discrimination and Harassment Laws

Employers may not treat employees differently because of a protected characteristic.  Federal and state anti-discrimination laws define protected characteristics and apply to employers who employ above the threshold number of employees. Employers must comply with the more restrictive of federal or state law if the laws are different. 

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the agency with DOL responsible for implementing the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

  • Agricultural employers must comply with the agricultural standards included in the regulations found at 29 CFR Part 1928. Agricultural employers also must comply with the OSHA law’s General Duty Clause which requires employers to provide a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.
  • In addition to complying with the agricultural standards included in Part 1928 (included those incorporated from Part 1910), employers must also provide training to employees on the standards, maintain records on employee work-related injuries and illnesses, post copies of citations, and post required notices.
  • OSHA is federal law, but many states are responsible for implementation through an approved state plan (including Iowa).

Resources