Protecting Agricultural Employee Health During COVID-19

Webinars, grower forums, and downloadable posters and handouts provide guidance and tools to protect essential agricultural business operations and employee health during the COVID-19 crisis. Topics include adjustments to the H-2A guest worker visa program, best practices and services to protect employee health, employer compliance with ag labor legal requirements, and modifications to seasonal employee housing during COVID-19.

Webinar and Forum Descriptions and Links

H-2A Agricultural Workers in Times of Uncertainty Webinar (Recorded)

This is a recording of a Penn State Extension townhall-style webinar to assist Pennsylvania agricultural stakeholders who rely on the H-2A visa program for temporary workers to operate their businesses. The session covered mitigation efforts to ease the disruptions of the normal functioning of the H-2A visa program. Also addressed were the dangers of COVID-19 itself and how to protect the health and well-being of visa holders.

Guest speakers included Richard Stup, agricultural workforce specialist at Cornell Extension; Brook Duer, staff attorney at the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law; Grant Meckley, physician assistant for Keystone Health's Agricultural Worker Program; Scott Sheely, executive director of the Lancaster County Agriculture Council; Sarah Lott Zost, owner and HR manager of Bonnie Brae Orchards; and Alyssa Charney, agriculture legislative assistant from Sen. Robert Casey's office.

COVID-19 Agricultural Employer Grower Forums

Practices and Services for Protecting Agricultural Employee Health during COVID-19 (Recorded)

Yeimi Gagliardi, Wellspan community health educator, explained how to access community health services to protect immigrant employee health and shared posters and other resources in English and Spanish. During Q&A, Carol Hansen Salazar, Bear Mountain Orchard HR generalist, and Ellie Rice, R&L Orchard HR manager, shared COVID-19 HR practices, and Grant Meckley, Keystone Health physician assistant and outreach coordinator, and Brook Duer, Penn State Agricultural Law staff attorney, answered participant questions.

Workplace Best Practices for Protecting Agricultural Employee Health during COVID-19 (Recorded)

Grant Meckley, physician assistant and outreach coordinator, and Dr. Melanie Finkenbinder, physician, Keystone Health's Agricultural Worker Health Program, discussed workplace safety during COVID-19. They addressed workplace best practices, administrative controls for ensuring workers are protected and receiving the resources they need, what to do if an employee reports testing positive, and contact tracing—what it is and how it works. Q&A panelists were Yeimi Gagliardi, Wellspan community health educator; Brook Duer, Penn State Agricultural Law staff attorney; Carol Hansen Salazar, Bear Mountain Orchard HR generalist, and Ellie Rice, R&L Orchard HR manager.

Employer Compliance with COVID-19 Legal Requirements for Ag Labor (Recorded)

Agricultural producers must process a veritable mountain of information essential to remaining viable during the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar series has concentrated thus far on various aspects of how the pandemic has or will impact your workforce this growing season. However, one area that has not been dealt with is employer compliance with laws and regulations governing the workplace and the employment relationship. Those with human resources duties need to take stock of new directives, interpretations, or unforeseen impacts of various labor and employment laws during COVID-19. And new internal policies may need to be written.

Now is a chance to make sure you have taken stock of what you need to know and implement. Learn about the latest from the various divisions of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as those entities also have responded to COVID-19. Joining Brook Duer, a staff attorney with the Penn State Ag Law Center will be Schaun Henry, a partner in the Harrisburg firm of McNees, Wallace & Nurick, LLC.

Guidance and Support for Agricultural Employers and Employees during COVID-19 (Recorded)

Secretary Russell Redding, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and Sheri Morris, assistant director in the Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services, led this forum on PDA's guidance and support for workplace protection during COVID-19. They discussed how, from the early days of COVID 19, the Department of Agriculture has worked in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and the United States Department of Agriculture to ensure the ag/food industry is designated as life-sustaining, continues to operate, and people are fed.

The business and worker protection guidance proved to be critical to keeping commerce flowing and ag/food employers and their employees safe. They reviewed how the department has incorporated a review of worker protection practices and mitigation measures during routine inspections and has offered recommendations for improvements based on best practices. The discussion also included worker housing. As part of the Bureau of Food Safety's permitting and inspection responsibilities of all Pennsylvania housing for agricultural workers, they worked in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to communicate worker guidance requirements. Brook Duer, Penn State Agricultural Law staff attorney, moderated the forum.

Downloadable Resources and Posters

Downloadable Posters on Practices and Services to Protect Agricultural Workers from COVID-19

Pósters en línea y descargables sobre prácticas y servicios para proteger a los trabajadores agrícolas de COVID-19

Downloadable Pamphlets on Health Guidance for Agricultural Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Folletos descargables sobre la Guía de Salud para Trabajadores Agrícolas durante la pandemia COVID-19

Protecting Agricultural Employee Health during COVID-19: Handouts from forums for download (click on "attachments")