The U.S. Department of Labor joins others during National Farmworker Awareness Week to honor farmworkers across the country.

Our Wage and Hour Division has prioritized agricultural stakeholders throughout its ongoing Essential Workers — Essential Protections outreach initiative. These efforts will continue beyond this week with outreach events in English and Spanish for farmworkers, advocates and employers. We’ll be educating agricultural stakeholders on essential worker protections we enforce, such as:

• Required wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the H-2A visa program.

• Field sanitation provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, including clean drinking water, hand-washing facilities and toilets.

• Housing and transportation safety standards under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the H-2A visa program.

• Protections for some of the most vulnerable workers, including minors and labor trafficking victims.

Farmworkers deserve to live in safe and sanitary housing. And the vehicles used to transport these workers must be maintained in safe operating conditions. When farmworkers’ safety is at risk, the Wage and Hour Division will not hesitate to act, as evidenced by our recent investigation in Missouri and another in Idaho.

We are equally dedicated to protecting farmworkers who are victims of human trafficking. As a partner in the National Action Plan to Combat Human...

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