Agricultural Exceptionalism: Development of a Labor Law Equity Index to Capture Variation in State Labor Protections for U.S. Agricultural Workers

Abstract

Agricultural workers are often excluded from labor laws; while some states have expanded labor protections and health and safety rules for agricultural workers, many states have not. We developed an agricultural worker labor law equity index (LLEI) using legal epidemiology methods. The LLEI evaluates state laws related to 3 labor protection topics—workers’ compensation, minimum wage, and overtime pay—across 39 states from 2001 to 2017. For each topic, we scored states according to the extent to which they afforded protections to agricultural workers, where higher LLEI scores indicate more inclusive labor protections for agricultural workers. Most states had positive scores (N = 23, 59%), 8 states (20.5%) scored 0, and 8 states (20.5%) had negative scores. This study provides a greater understanding of the variation in labor protections for agricultural workers across 39 U.S. states. Future studies can use the LLEI to examine the impact of labor laws on agricultural workers’ health.