Legal Advocacy for California's Agricultural Workers
CRLA's Agricultural Worker Program protects and fights for the rights of California’s agricultural workers. Agricultural Worker Program staff:
- provide direct legal services.
- represent workers in administrative hearings.
- file litigation on behalf of low-wage agricultural workers, including farmworkers and dairy workers.
Agricultural Worker Program staff conduct significant education and outreach regarding employment rights, including health and safety, sexual harassment, and wage and hour rights to agricultural workers in all California counties. Staff are located in our Coachella, Fresno, Oxnard, Salinas, and Stockton offices.
Fifty Years of Standing with Agricultural Workers
Our work fighting for and with farmworkers and other agricultural workers is a foundational aspect of our firm’s advocacy. Notable legal victories include:
- In Carmona v. Division of Industrial Safety (1975), CRLA successfully ended the use of “el cortito,” the short-handled hoe that crippled generations of farmworkers.
- More recently, in Arias v. Raimondo (2018), the 9th Circuit ruled that an employer’s attorney may be held liable for retaliation under the Fair Labor Standards Act, after that attorney attempted to orchestrate our dairy worker client’s deportation in pending litigation where our client had sued his employer for unpaid wages.