Questions with Justin Bartlett

Photo courtesy of Legacy Labor

Produce Grower: What parts of the H-2A process does Legacy Labor handle for clients?

Justin Bartlett: We handle everything from recruitment to filing for job orders, visas, transportation from consulate to work site. Once the workers arrive, they’re on our payroll, so we handle the payroll, workers’ compensation insurance, in some cases we handle housing as well. If growers already have housing, we just utilize theirs and charge them a different rate that accounts for that. We provide vehicles and drivers for transportation on site.

We basically find out the needs that the growers have, make sure that we can meet those needs and if it’s a good fit for us and that we can do a good job. But then after that point, we sign contracts for a number of workers, job duties or crop they’re working with, start and end dates, whether housing is needed or not. Next, we recruit, we source the workers, we manage the hiring, firing, disciplinary actions — management of the workers is on us. We assign workforce coordinators to manage the crews and the account once the contracts are signed.

PG: What’s the difference between working with a contractor like Legacy Labor, or using an agent for the H-2A process?

JB: An agent might recruit workers, do paperwork, get appointments at the consulate, may handle transportation from consulate to the work site. But at that point, they’re your workers. All of the compliance and exposure is on you. Payroll, insurance, vehicles for transportation, that all falls on the grower. And if the DOL shows up, they’re the one at risk of getting CMPs (civil money penalties) or fines.

The difference between an agent and a farm labor contractor like us is that we not only handle all that piece of it, but when the workers show up, they’re our workers. They’re our direct employees. They’re on our payroll, our insurance. If DOL shows up, any potential fines are on us and not the grower. We handle the management of the workers: hiring, firing, disciplinary, all that falls on us. That’s the biggest difference between an agent and us.

PG: How does the reporting system work?

JB: We have a digital time-keeping system and kiosks we set up on site for fixed sites. We can also do mobile phones or tablets. All of our crew leaders have that and they punch in and punch out using our system. That’s real-time information for us. We send a detailed report with our invoice. We send one invoice a week for payroll. All the grower has to worry about is paying that bill once a week. It alleviates the need for in-house staff to manage that.

PG: How much lead time do you require to get started with a new company?

JB: I like to say 120 days, four months prior to the first start date for year one. That’s so we can work with the customer getting housing licensed, approved and set up. But usually I’m having conversations six months before the need, trying to determine if we’ll be a good fit. Currently, we are in 14 states. The only limitation right now is California. We’re working to get licensed there, but it’s a lengthy process and there are delays on issuing licenses in that state right now for farm labor contractors. Any other state, we could work there in the next couple of weeks if we’re not already there.

PG: Why should a grower consider hiring Legacy Labor to handle its H-2A process?

JB: We may not be the biggest out there, but you will not find another farm labor contractor out there who cares more about compliance. With the state of the industry and how rules and regulations are changing, that matters more now than ever. We’re proactive about rule changes and how they affect us. We care about developing long-term relationships with growers. We want to find long-term solutions, not just a quick Band-Aid.

A lot of our growers are adding workers this year because their businesses are thriving. They’re thriving because they have a reliable workforce. That means a lot to us, because they can now focus on their business. They don’t have to spend most of their day just making sure people show up to work. That’s what gets us excited to do what we do every day.