U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Union Access to Agricultural Employer’s Land
POSTED BY Sarah Hirschfeld-Sussman
On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a California regulation allowing union organizers to enter an agricultural employer’s property is unconstitutional. The regulation, on the books since the mid-1970s, requires farms to permit unions to speak with and recruit farmworkers in the hour before and after work and an hour during lunchtime for up to 120 days each year. (Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (U.S., June 23, 2021, No. 20-107) 2021 WL 2557070.)
In the case, a strawberry plant nursery and a fruit shipment company sued the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board arguing that the regulation gave farmworker unions an easement to enter and conduct business on their land without authorization or compensation. The Court agreed, holding that the regulation took away the agricultural employer’s right to exclude trespassers from its private property, amounting to a “taking” of company property without “just compensation” in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
With the regulation essentially gone (barring the unlikely scenario that the government or the unions decide to pay farms for access to their workers), labor unions will have to find alternative means to communicate with and recruit agricultural union members. This ruling is hailed as a resounding victory for agricultural employers. For more information about this contact Sarah Hirschfeld-Sussman or anyone on DP&F’s employment team.
