Overview of subpart B and definition of terms.
20 C.F.R. § 655.1300
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) Overview—(1) Application filing process. (i) This subpart provides guidance to employers desiring to apply for a labor certification for the employment of H-2A workers to perform agricultural employment of a temporary or seasonal nature. The regulations in this subpart provide that such employers must file with the Administrator, OFLC an H-2A application on forms prescribed by the ETA that describe the material terms and conditions of employment to be offered and afforded to U.S. and H-2A workers. The application must be filed with the Administrator, OFLC at least 45 calendar days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers. The application must contain attestations of the employer's compliance or promise to comply with program requirements regarding recruitment of eligible U.S. workers, the payment of an appropriate wage, and terms and conditions of employment.
(ii) No more than 75 and no fewer than 60 calendar days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, and as a precursor to the filing of an Application for Temporary Employment Certification, the employer must initiate positive recruitment of eligible U.S. workers and cooperate with the local office of the State Workforce Agency (SWA) which serves the area of intended employment to place a job order into intrastate and interstate recruitment. Prior to commencing recruitment an employer must obtain the appropriate wage for the position directly from the ETA National Processing Center (NPC). The employer must then place a job order with the SWA; place print advertisements meeting the requirements of this regulation; contact former U.S. employees; and, when so designated by the Secretary, recruit in other States of traditional or expected labor supply with a significant number of U.S. workers who, if recruited, would be willing to make themselves available at the time and place needed. The SWA will post the job order locally, as well as in all States listed in the application as anticipated work sites, and in any additional States designated by the Secretary as States of traditional or expected labor supply. The SWA will keep the job order open until the end of the designated recruitment period. No more than 50 days prior to the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, the employer will prepare and sign an initial written recruitment report that it must submit with its Application for Temporary Employment Certification (www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov). The recruitment report must contain information regarding the original number of openings for which the employer recruited. The employer's obligation to engage in positive recruitment will end on the actual date on which the H-2A workers depart for the place of work, or 3 days prior to the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, whichever occurs first.
(iii) The Application for Temporary Employment Certification must be filed by mail unless the Department publishes a Notice in the Federal Register requiring that applications be filed electronically. Applications that meet threshold requirements for completeness and accuracy will be processed by NPC staff, who will review each application for compliance with the criteria for certification. Each application must meet requirements for timeliness and temporary need and must provide assurances and other safeguards against adverse impact on the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers. Employers receiving a labor certification must continue to cooperate with the SWA by accepting referrals—and have the obligation to hire qualified and eligible U.S. workers who apply—until the end of the designated recruitment period.
(2) Deficient applications. The CO will promptly review the application and notify the applicant in writing if there are deficiencies that render the application not acceptable for certification, and afford the applicant a 5 calendar day period (from date of the employer's receipt) to resubmit a modified application or to file an appeal of the CO's decision not to approve the application as acceptable for consideration. Modified applications that fail to cure deficiencies will be denied.
(3) Amendment of applications. This subpart provides for the amendment of applications. Where the recruitment is not materially affected by such amendments, additional positive recruitment will not be required.
(4) Determinations—(i) Determinations. If the employer has complied with the criteria for certification, including recruitment of eligible U.S. workers, the CO must make a determination on the application by 30 days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers. An employer's failure to comply with any of the certification criteria or to cure deficiencies identified by the CO may lengthen the time required for processing, resulting in a final determination less than 30 days prior to the stated date of need.
(ii) Certified applications. This subpart provides that an application for temporary agricultural labor certification will be certified if the CO finds that the employer has not offered and does not intend to offer foreign workers higher wages, better working conditions, or fewer restrictions than those offered and afforded to U.S. workers; that sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and eligible will not be available at the time and place needed to perform the work for which H-2A workers are being requested; and that the employment of such nonimmigrants will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
(iii) Fees—(A) Amount. This subpart provides that each employer (except joint employer associations) of H-2A workers will pay the appropriate fees to the Department for each temporary agricultural labor certification received.
(B) Timeliness of payment. The fee must be received by the CO no later than 30 calendar days after the granting of each temporary agricultural labor certification. Fees received any later are untimely. A persistent or prolonged failure to pay fees in a timely manner is a substantial program violation which may result in the denial of future temporary agricultural labor certifications and/or program debarment.
(iv) Denied applications. This subpart provides that if the application for temporary agricultural labor certification is denied, in whole or in part, the employer may seek expedited review of the denial, or a de novo hearing, by an administrative law judge as provided in this subpart.
(b) Transition of filing procedures from current regulations—(1) Compliance with these regulations. Employers with a date of need for H-2A workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural services on or after January 1, 2010 must comply with all of the obligations and assurances required in this subpart.
(2) Transition from former regulations. Employers with a date of need for H-2A workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural services prior to January 1, 2010 will file applications in the following manner:
(i) Obtaining required wage rate. An employer will not obtain an offered wage rate through the NPC prior to filing an application, but will complete and submit Form ETA-9142, Application for Temporary Employment Certification no less than 45 days prior to their date of need. The employer will simultaneously submit Form ETA-790 Agricultural and Food Processing Clearance Order, along with the Application for Temporary Employment Certification, directly to the NPC having jurisdiction over H-2A applications.
(ii) Pre-filing activities. Activities required to be conducted prior to filing under the final rule will be conducted post-filing during this transition period. The employer will be expected to make attestations in its application applicable to its future activities concerning recruitment, payment of the offered wage rate, etc. Employers will not be required to complete an initial recruitment report for submission with the application, but will be required to complete a recruitment report for submission to the NPC prior to certification, and will also be required to complete a final recruitment report covering the entire recruitment period.
(iii) Acceptance of application. Upon receipt, the NPC will provide the employer with the wage rate to be offered, at a minimum, by the employer, and will process the application in a manner consistent with new § 655.107, issuing a notification of deficiencies for any curable deficiencies within 7 calendar days.
(iv) Processing of application. Once the application and job order have been accepted, the NPC will transmit a copy of the job order to the SWA(s) serving the area of intended employment to initiate intrastate and interstate clearance, request that the SWA(s) schedule an inspection of the housing, and provide instructions to the employer to commence positive recruitment in a manner consistent with § 655.102(d)(2) through (4). The NPC will designate labor supply States during this period on a case-by-case basis. Such designations must be based on information provided by State agencies or by other sources, and will to the extent information is available take into account the success of recent efforts by out-of-State employers to recruit in that State.
(c) Definitions of terms used in this subpart. For the purposes of this subpart:
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) means a person within the DOL's Office of Administrative Law Judges appointed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 3105, or a panel of such persons designated by the Chief Administrative Law Judge from the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) established by part 656 of this chapter, which will hear and decide appeals as set forth in § 655.115.
Administrator, OFLC means the primary official of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), or the Administrator, OFLC 's designee.
Adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) means the minimum wage rate that the Administrator, OFLC has determined must be offered and paid to every H-2A worker employed under the DOL-approved Application for Temporary Employment Certification in a particular occupation and/or area, as well as to U.S. workers hired by employers into corresponding employment during the H-2A recruitment period, to ensure that the wages of similarly employed U.S. workers will not be adversely affected.
Agent means a legal entity or person, such as an association of agricultural employers, or an attorney for an association, that:
(1) Is authorized to act on behalf of the employer for temporary agricultural labor certification purposes;
(2) Is not itself an employer, or a joint employer, as defined in this paragraph (c) of this section with respect to a specific application; and
(3) Is not under suspension, debarment, expulsion, or disbarment from practice before any court or the Department, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the immigration judges, or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under 8 CFR 292.3 or 1003.101.
Agricultural association means any nonprofit or cooperative association of farmers, growers, or ranchers (including but not limited to processing establishments, canneries, gins, packing sheds, nurseries, or other fixed-site agricultural employers), incorporated or qualified under applicable State law, that recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, houses or transports any worker that is subject to sec. 218 of the INA. An agricultural association may act as the agent of an employer for purposes of filing an Application for Temporary Employment Certification, and may also act as the sole or joint employer of H-2A workers.
Application for Temporary Employment Certification means the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved form submitted by an employer to secure a temporary agricultural labor certification determination from DOL. A complete submission of the Application for Temporary Employment Certification includes both the form and the employer's initial recruitment report.
Area of intended employment means the geographic area within normal commuting distance of the place (worksite address) of the job opportunity for which the certification is sought. There is no rigid measure of distance which constitutes a normal commuting distance or normal commuting area, because there may be widely varying factual circumstances among different areas (e.g., average commuting times, barriers to reaching the worksite, quality of the regional transportation network, etc.). If the place of intended employment is within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), including a multistate MSA, any place within the MSA is deemed to be within normal commuting distance of the place of intended employment. The borders of MSAs are not controlling in the identification of the normal commuting area; a location outside of an MSA may be within normal commuting distance of a location that is inside (e.g., near the border of) the MSA.
Attorney means any person who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any State, possession, territory, or commonwealth of the U.S., or the District of Columbia, and who is not under suspension, debarment, expulsion, or disbarment from practice before any court or the Department, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the immigration judges, or DHS under 8 CFR. 292.3 or 1003.101. Such a person is permitted to act as an agent or attorney for an employer and/or foreign worker under this subpart.
Certifying Officer (CO) means the person designated by the Administrator, OFLC to make determinations on applications filed under the H-2A program.
Chief Administrative Law Judge means the chief official of the DOL Office of Administrative Law Judges or the Chief Administrative Law Judge's designee.
Date of need means the first date the employer requires the services of H-2A worker as indicated in the employer's Application for Temporary Employment Certification.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) means the Federal agency having control over certain immigration functions that, through its sub-agency, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), makes the determination under the INA on whether to grant visa petitions filed by employers seeking H-2A workers to perform temporary agricultural work in the U.S.
DOL or Department means the United States Department of Labor.
Eligible worker means an individual who is not an unauthorized alien (as defined in sec. 274A(h)(3) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3)) with respect to the employment in which the worker is engaging.
Employee means employee as defined under the general common law of agency. Some of the factors relevant to the determination of employee status include: the hiring party's right to control the manner and means by which the work is accomplished; the skill required to perform the work; the source of the instrumentalities and tools for accomplishing the work; the location of the work; the hiring party's discretion over when and how long to work; and whether the work is part of the regular business of the hiring party. Other applicable factors may be considered and no one factor is dispositive.
Employer means a person, firm, corporation or other association or organization that:
(1) Has a place of business (physical location) in the U.S. and a means by which it may be contacted for employment;
(2) Has an employer relationship with respect to H-2A employees or related U.S. workers under this subpart; and
(3) Possesses, for purposes of filing an Application for Temporary Employment Certification, a valid Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
Employment Standards Administration (ESA) means the agency within DOL that includes the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), and which is charged with carrying out certain investigative and enforcement functions of the Secretary under the INA.
Employment Service (ES) refers to the system of Federal and State entities responsible for administration of the labor certification process for temporary and seasonal agricultural employment of nonimmigrant foreign workers. This includes the SWAs and the OFLC, including the NPCs.
Employment and Training Administration (ETA) means the agency within the DOL that includes OFLC.
Federal holiday means a legal public holiday as defined at 5 U.S.C. 6103.
Fixed-site employer means any person engaged in agriculture who meets the definition of an employer as those terms are defined in this subpart who owns or operates a farm, ranch, processing establishment, cannery, gin, packing shed, nursery, or other similar fixed-site location where agricultural activities are performed and who recruits, solicits, hires, employs, houses, or transports any worker subject to sec. 218 of the INA or these regulations as incident to or in conjunction with the owner's or operator's own agricultural operation. For purposes of this subpart, person includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, cooperative, joint stock company, trust, or other organization with legal rights and duties.
H-2A Labor Contractor (H-2ALC) means any person who meets the definition of employer under this paragraph (c) of this section and is not a fixed-site employer, an agricultural association, or an employee of a fixed-site employer or agricultural association, as those terms are used in this part, who recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, houses, or transports any worker subject to sec. 218 of the INA or these regulations.
H-2A worker means any temporary foreign worker who is lawfully present in the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature pursuant to sec. 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the INA, as amended.
INA means the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.
Job offer means the offer made by an employer or potential employer of H-2A workers to eligible workers describing all the material terms and conditions of employment, including those relating to wages, working conditions, and other benefits.
Job opportunity means a job opening for temporary, full-time employment at a place in the U.S. to which a U.S. worker can be referred.
Joint employment means that where two or more employers each have sufficient definitional indicia of employment to be considered the employer of an employee, those employers will be considered to jointly employ that employee. Each employer in a joint employment relationship to an employee is considered a joint employer of that employee.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) means the organizational component of the Department that assures the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, as amended.
Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) means the organizational component of the ETA that provides national leadership and policy guidance and develops regulations and procedures to carry out the responsibilities of the Secretary under the INA concerning the admission of foreign workers to the U.S. to perform work described in sec. 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the INA, as amended.
Positive recruitment means the active participation of an employer or its authorized hiring agent in recruiting and interviewing qualified and eligible individuals in the area where the employer's job opportunity is located and any other State designated by the Secretary as an area of traditional or expected labor supply with respect to the area where the employer's job opportunity is located, in an effort to fill specific job openings with U.S. workers.
Prevailing means, with respect to practices engaged in by employers and benefits other than wages provided by employers, that:
(1) Fifty percent or more of employers in an area and for an occupation engage in the practice or offer the benefit; but only if
(2) This 50 percent or more of employers also employs in aggregate 50 percent or more of U.S. workers in the occupation and area (including H-2A and non-H-2A employers for purposes of determinations concerning the provision of family housing, frequency of wage payments, and workers supplying their own bedding, but non-H-2A employers only for determinations concerning the provision of advance transportation).
Prevailing piece rate means that amount that is typically paid to an agricultural worker per piece (which includes, but is not limited to, a load, bin, pallet, bag, bushel, etc.), to be determined by the SWA according to a methodology published by the Department. As is currently the case, the unit of production will be required to be clearly described; e.g., a field box of oranges (1
1/2 bushels), a bushel of potatoes, and Eastern apple box (1
1/2 metric bushels), a flat of strawberries (twelve quarts), etc.
Prevailing hourly wage means the hourly wage determined by the SWA to be prevailing in the area in accordance with State-based wage surveys.
Representative means a person or entity employed by, or duly authorized to act on behalf of, the employer with respect to activities entered into for, and/or attestations made with respect to, the Application for Temporary Employment Certification.
Secretary means the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor, or the Secretary's designee.
Secretary of Homeland Security means the chief official of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Secretary of Homeland Security's designee.
Secretary of State means the chief official of the United States Department of State (DOS) or the Secretary of State's designee.
State Workforce Agency (SWA) means the State government agency that receives funds pursuant to the Wagner-Peyser Act to administer the public labor exchange delivered through the State's One-Stop delivery system in accordance with the Wagner-Peyser Act at 29 U.S.C. 49 et seq. Separately, SWAs receive ETA grants, administered by OFLC, to assist them in performing certain activities related to foreign labor certification, including conducting housing inspections.
Strike means a labor dispute wherein employees engage in a concerted stoppage of work (including stoppage by reason of the expiration of a collective-bargaining agreement) or engage in any concerted slowdown or other concerted interruption of operation. Whether a job opportunity is vacant by reason of a strike or lock out will be determined by evaluating for each position identified as vacant in the Application for Temporary Employment Certification whether the specific vacancy has been caused by the strike or lock out.
Successor in interest means that, in determining whether an employer is a successor in interest, the factors used under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act will be considered. When considering whether an employer is a successor for purposes of § 655.118, the primary consideration will be the personal involvement of the firm's ownership, management, supervisors, and others associated with the firm in the violations resulting in a debarment recommendation. Normally, wholly new management or ownership of the same business operation, one in which the former management or owner does not retain a direct or indirect interest, will not be deemed to be a successor in interest for purposes of debarment. A determination of whether or not a successor in interest exists is based on the entire circumstances viewed in their totality. The factors to be considered include:
(1) Substantial continuity of the same business operations;
(2) Use of the same facilities;
(3) Continuity of the work force;
(4) Similarity of jobs and working conditions;
(5) Similarity of supervisory personnel;
(6) Similarity in machinery, equipment, and production methods;
(7) Similarity of products and services; and
(8) The ability of the predecessor to provide relief.
Temporary agricultural labor certification means the certification made by the Secretary with respect to an employer seeking to file with DHS a visa petition to employ one or more foreign nationals as an H-2A worker, pursuant to secs. 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 214(a) and (c), and 218 of the INA that:
(1) There are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, and qualified, and who will be available at the time and place needed, to perform the agricultural labor or services involved in the petition, and
(2) The employment of the foreign worker in such agricultural labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the U.S. similarly employed (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 1184(a) and (c), and 1188).
United States (U.S.), when used in a geographic sense, means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and, as of the transition program effective date, as defined in the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, Public Law 110-229, Title VII, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) means the Federal agency making the determination under the INA whether to grant petitions filed by employers seeking H-2A workers to perform temporary agricultural work in the U.S.
United States worker (U.S. worker) means a worker who is
(1) A citizen or national of the U.S., or
(2) An alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S., is admitted as a refugee under sec. 207 of the INA, is granted asylum under sec. 208 of the INA, or is an immigrant otherwise authorized (by the INA or by DHS) to be employed in the U.S.
Wages means all forms of cash remuneration to a worker by an employer in payment for personal services.
Within [number and type] days means, for purposes of determining an employer's compliance with the timing requirements for appeals and requests for review, a period that begins to run on the first business day after the Department sends a notice to the employer by means normally assuring next-day delivery, and will end on the day that the employer sends whatever communication is required by these rules back to the Department, as evidenced by a postal mark or other similar receipt.
Work contract means all the material terms and conditions of employment relating to wages, hours, working conditions, and other benefits, required by the applicable regulations in Subpart B of 20 CFR part 655, Labor Certification for Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Aliens in the U.S. (H-2A Workers), or these regulations, including those terms and conditions attested to by the H-2A employer, which contract between the employer and the worker may be in the form of a separate written document. In the absence of a separate written work contract incorporating the required terms and conditions of employment, agreed to by both the employer and the worker, the work contract at a minimum shall be the terms of the job order, as provided in 20 CFR part 653, Subpart F, and covered provisions of the work contract shall be enforced in accordance with these regulations.
(d) Definition of agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. For the purposes of this subpart means the following:
(1) Agricultural labor or services, pursuant to sec. 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the INA at 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), is defined as:
(i) Agricultural labor as defined and applied in sec. 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 at 26 U.S.C. 3121(g);
(ii) Agriculture as defined and applied in sec. 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) at 29 U.S.C. 203(f). Work performed by H-2A workers, or workers in corresponding employment, that is not defined as agriculture in sec. 3(f) is subject to the provisions of the FLSA as provided therein, including the overtime provisions in sec. 7(a) 29 U.S.C. 207(a);
(iii) The pressing of apples for cider on a farm;
(iv) Logging employment; or
(v) Handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity while in the employ of the operator of a farm where no H-2B workers are employed to perform the same work at the same establishment; or
(vi) Other work typically performed on a farm that is not specifically listed on the Application for Temporary Employment Certification and is minor (i.e., less than 20 percent of the total time worked on the job duties and activities that are listed on the Application for Temporary Employment Certification) and incidental to the agricultural labor or services for which the H-2A worker was sought.
(2) An occupation included in either of the statutory definitions cited in paragraphs (d)(1)(i) and (ii) of this section is agricultural labor or services, notwithstanding the exclusion of that occupation from the other statutory definition.
(i) Agricultural labor. For purposes of paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section means all services performed:
(A) On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and furbearing animals and wildlife;
(B) In the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment, or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm;
(C) In connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in sec. 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended at 12 U.S.C. 1141j, or in connection with the ginning of cotton, or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes;
(D)(1) In the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity, but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(2) In the employ of a group of operators of farms (other than a cooperative organization) in the performance of service described in paragraph (d)(2)(i)(D)(1) of this section, but only if such operators produced all of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed. For purposes of this paragraph, any unincorporated group of operators will be deemed a cooperative organization if the number of operators comprising such group is more than 20 at any time during the calendar quarter in which such service is performed;
(3) The provisions of paragraphs (d)(2)(i)(D)(1) and (2) of this section do not apply to services performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption; or
(4) On a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer's trade or business and is not domestic service in a private home of the employer.
(E) For purposes of (d)(2)(i) of this section, the term farm includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards. See sec. 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 at 26 U.S.C. 3121(g).
(ii) Agriculture. For purposes of paragraph (d)(1)(ii) of this section agriculture means farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities as defined as agricultural commodities in 12 U.S.C. 1141j(g)), the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market. See 29 U.S.C. 203(f), as amended.
(iii) Agricultural commodity. For purposes of paragraph (d)(2)(ii) of this section agricultural commodity includes, in addition to other agricultural commodities, crude gum (oleoresin) from a living tree, and gum spirits of turpentine and gum rosin as processed by the original producer of the crude gum (oleoresin) from which derived. Gum spirits of turpentine means spirits of turpentine made from gum (oleoresin) from a living tree and gum rosin means rosin remaining after the distillation of gum spirits of turpentine. See 12 U.S.C. 1141j(g), sec. 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended, and 7 U.S.C. 92.
(3) Of a temporary or seasonal nature—(i) On a seasonal or other temporary basis. For the purposes of this subpart, of a temporary or seasonal nature means on a seasonal or other temporary basis, as defined in the WHD's regulation at 29 CFR 500.20 under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).
(ii) MSPA definition. The definition of on a seasonal or other temporary basis found in MSPA is summarized as follows:
(A) Labor is performed on a seasonal basis where, ordinarily, the employment pertains to or is of the kind exclusively performed at certain seasons or periods of the year and which, from its nature, may not be continuous or carried on throughout the year. A worker who moves from one seasonal activity to another, while employed in agriculture or performing agricultural labor, is employed on a seasonal basis even though the worker may continue to be employed during a major portion of the year.
(B) A worker is employed on other temporary basis where he or she is employed for a limited time only or the worker's performance is contemplated for a particular piece of work, usually of short duration. Generally, employment which is contemplated to continue indefinitely is not temporary.
(C) On a seasonal or other temporary basis does not include (i) the employment of any foreman or other supervisory employee who is employed by a specific agricultural employer or agricultural association essentially on a year round basis; or (ii) the employment of any worker who is living at his or her permanent place of residence, when that worker is employed by a specific agricultural employer or agricultural association on essentially a year round basis to perform a variety of tasks for his or her employer and is not primarily employed to do field work.
(iii) Temporary. For the purposes of this subpart, the definition of “temporary” in paragraph (d)(3) of this section refers to any job opportunity covered by this subpart where the employer needs a worker for a position for a limited period of time, including, but not limited to, a peakload need, which is generally less than 1 year, unless the original temporary agricultural labor certification is extended pursuant to § 655.110.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-20.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026