"You're romanticizing the farm!"

That was the remark I received after a friend read my recent writings on Half Moon Bay Patch. He quickly followed with a reminder that I'm not always so enchanted with the workings of our farm. I chuckled because he was so dead on.

It is human nature for most to reflect fondly on past experiences. The former flame that you broke up with, the job you finally left after too long or even that family vacation from hell. It is easy for positive people to look back at these experiences and only recall the good times, easily overlooking the reasons why they left their heartthrob, quit their former employer or the reason it was named the family vacation from hell in the first place!

Such is the case with my affinity for our farm. It is natural for me to speak with great reverence for the farm life. For me, it represents three things I care so deeply for: a back-to-basics mentality, working outdoors with nature and my family history. But to claim that each day I work at the farm I have a smile on my face would be a boldfaced lie.

My wife can attest that each year come June and July, I curse the farm. The first year of our marriage, when I'd return home from working in the fields frustrated at the challenges of growing, she did her best to cheer me up and encourage me on. Knowing how much I love the farm she showed great concern in my negativity. What she did not know was that this was a ritual for me.

Our main crop is pumpkins. After planting in May, we begin regular irrigation cycles. Each cycle of watering sprouts a whole new generation of weeds to battle. We follow organic practices which means being mostly reliant on mechanical and manual eradication. With Mom (Joanne Marsh) and I being the only laborers, it means sore backs, calloused hands and many hours logged with hoe in hand. A few months of this usually leads me to proclaim that, "This is the last year we do this!"

When, in year two of our marriage, I began my annual gripe session, my wife didn't bat an eye. The "June/July farm gloom," as I've dubbed it, led me to seek assistance for weed control from a farm laborer I knew.

I had met Roberto (name changed for privacy protection) at Mac Dutra Park in August of 1999. It was our first year farming and I thought I'd find someone to help assist harvesting fava beans. Though as a boy I had watched my step-dad hire men from Mac Dutra several times, I was scared. It was very intimidating and sad to watch the men push and shove their way to a vehicle that pulled up, in hopes of finding work for the day. After watching for a while from a distance, I decided to make a go of it. Immediately my truck was rushed with men asking in broken English, "How much you pay?" and "How long I work for?"

It seemed I would have no trouble finding someone to help me for the day. With that I relaxed and my subconscious set in. I have always been one to root for the underdog. As a team captain in childhood games, I would always pick the less talented players first. I thought they deserved to not be picked last for a change. And so it was this day. With ten grown men pushing the way up to my truck I noticed an elder in the back of the crowd. Seemingly interested in the work, he lacked the audacity of forcing his way into my vehicle. I appreciated that. I said to him the first thing I had learned in my Cunha Spanish class, "¿Cómo te llamas?" The rest was our discussion of part broken English, part broken Spanish, and mostly hand gestures.

Roberto and I worked side by side picking favas that day and for two more that summer. He was a nice man and even harder worker. I liked working with him but it wasn't financially feasible at the time so I did not continue his services the following year.

For the next nine years, Joanne and I took care of all the farm labor needs at Tunitas. I ran into Roberto in early 2009. He was retired, but still sought some occasional side work. I asked him to again assist us and on four occasions during the season he did.

Just this past year Roberto and I harvested peas together in May. It was then that I found myself on the wrong side of the labor law. We had together picked about 20 boxes and were rounding out our day when I noticed a man peering through the fence and brush photographing us. I approached him and asked him if I could help him with anything. He identified himself as a State of California Labor Commissioner. He then asked if he could enter the property for inspection. I allowed it not thinking we had anything to hide. Big mistake.

I quickly learned that my hiring Roberto, no matter how infrequent it was, required possession of Worker's Compensation Insurance. The fine I received amounted to $1000, quite a significant portion of our annual income.  I did my best to appeal to the softer side of the commissioner and later the more formal atmosphere of a hearing officer's litigation room, with no success. I later learned all of these finable offenses are at the sole discretion of the Labor Commissioner performing the field inspection. And based on my research after the fact, it seems as though there is a broad range of enforcement among labor commissioners. What one commissioner may fine, another may give a warning and still another might not notice. The labor commissioner we dealt with, while friendly, interpreted the labor code quite strictly.

As with most laws, the initial concept is created with good intent. You'd be hard pressed to find a body that rails against the protection of employees from the work tasks they perform. I myself have been injured while employed outside of the farm and I'm very thankful workers compensation insurance was there to help me. But I am amazed at how far-reaching workers comp requirements have become. Through this experience I have learned that a business owner is even required to cover family members, friends or anyone else that may help them out in the course of business, even if only for a few minutes. If anyone is performing some task that benefits the business, they are considered employees of said business. Had this labor commissioner come by our farm on harvest day, I would have been looking at a $5000 fine; $1000 each for my wife, brother and his wife as well as $1000 each for my two buddies that join in.

I thought there must be some way around this, perhaps a waiver or notarized letter that said my friends' were volunteering on the farm. Nope. What's further is that those persons performing work must be paid at least minimum wage. And even more than that, if we pay wages to anyone, no matter how little or how temporary, we are required to contribute to Social Security and payroll taxes as well as accurately withhold the "employees" portion of required deductions; fed tax, state tax, State Disability Insurance, etc. So now what started as a day of my buddies and family coming over to help me on the farm, then have a beer and BBQ has turned into one big liability that may not be worth risking an additional fine.

The Labor Commissioners perform random field inspections throughout the year in various industries. According to a Labor Commissioner in the San Jose office, they perform field inspections on agricultural businesses in different areas once a month. The majority of these businesses have some sort of violation. It could be a minor infraction, such as failure to have the adequate pay day notice posted for employees or more serious as was in our case, failure to provide Workers Comp insurance. These requirements are not limited to the agriculture industry. The restauranteur that has family members help out on a busy day, the florist who calls in her friends to help make arrangements for a big wedding, or even the parent that works from their home office and asks their child to help out stuffing envelopes or filing are all subject to the same labor laws, no matter how little or infrequent the services are used.

We are now in the process of determining whether we want to continue to use the labor of family and friends on occasion, thereby requiring us to follow the labor code no matter how much it costs, or not allowing friends and family members to assist.

For more information on California labor law check out this site, or call (415) 703-4810.