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If you are new to the legal aspects being a farm employer, you will want to gain an understanding the following topics at a minimum: workers compensation, minimum wage, paperwork needed at the start of employment, employee versus independent contractor, laws regarding volunteers and interns, and overtime rules for agricultural labor and non-agricultural labor. You can find information for your state by calling your state’s Department of Labor. 

You can also go to the following web sites:

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If you have some familiarity with these topics but could use a refresher to make sure your practices match current regulations, you may want to focus on the following topics: 

• Employee classification – for profit farms have main two categories, an employee or an independent contractor.  Volunteers are not a legal classification on “for-profit” farms.  Interns will need to meet legal standards.
• Necessary records kept for an appropriate amount of time.  Call your Department of Labor to get a list of records required for your labor force, or search some of the resources listed below. 
• Correctly differentiating between agricultural and non-agricultural labor. This has implications for both minimum wage and overtime rules.
• Rules dictating the frequency by which you: have to pay employees, provide paid breaks, provide uniforms and tools, and other such regulations.