State law does not address the relationship existing between an employer and an employee living in housing facilities provided rent-free by the employer. There are no guidelines defining rights, responsibilities or procedures to be observed when the occupant is no longer an employee.
We will seek and support legislation that addresses not more than a seven-day eviction process for employer provided housing.
We encourage agricultural employers to renovate or demolish their abandoned housing.
The Agricultural Labor Housing Inspection Program is vital to agricultural employers and Michigan’s agricultural economy. The program verifies that agricultural employers have Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) acceptable housing for employees and provides licensing for employers whose housing meets that program’s standards/requirements. This licensing provides protection for both employers and employees. We support that once a camp has been inspected and licensed by the appropriate state agency, any violations created by the occupant should not be held against the labor housing licensee.
Michigan Farm Bureau supports MDARD being the sole inspecting licensor of agricultural housing in Michigan. We support the Agricultural Labor Housing Inspection Program being a fully funded state program that includes pre-occupancy, post-occupancy and complaint-driven inspections, and supplemented by reasonable fees based on licensed occupancy only if necessary. We encourage the State of Michigan and MDARD to provide labor housing licensing protection to all growers who show a good faith effort to maintain their labor housing to MDARD standards.
With aging infrastructure and the continuing issue of lack of housing, renewing, and building new on-farm worker housing is more important now than ever. Continuing pressure with lower commodity pricing and increased input pricing has made it difficult for farmers to make these improvements and maintain competitiveness in the market. We support increased state funding for on-farm housing development.
Overlapping of administrative oversight and inspection of temporary housing requirements presents a fragmented format of temporary housing rules. MFB requests MDARD be the sole vendor of temporary housing law enforcement. We encourage MDARD to continue to publish and provide a publication explaining the current complete licensing, inspection procedures, and regulations for temporary housing both on and off farm. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) should recognize a current license issued by MDARD as proof the labor camp is acceptable for habitation. We support that once an agriculture labor camp is inspected and licensed by MDARD and then occupied, the USDOL and/or other agencies may not enter the camp dwellings, which are the homes of the employees, without the employee’s permission and proper advance notification to the owner of the farm. Federal and other state agencies should be in audit positions only and shall refer any apparent violations to MDARD, rather than issuing an immediate penalty.
We encourage legislation to develop uniform housing standards/requirements across state and federal agencies for agricultural workers.