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"Farm workers excluded from minimum wage hike." This is one of the many headlines that have appeared recently in Ohio newspapers. The problem is that the headline and the stories, for the most part, are wrong, according to John Wargowsky, Ohio Farm Bureau’s director of labor services and policy.

"The stories give the impression that migrant and Latino farm workers won’t be fairly paid under Ohio’s new minimum wage law. That’s simply not true," Wargowsky said.

In November, Ohio voters passed a constitutional amendment that raised the minimum wage to $6.85, effective Jan. 1. While the constitutional amendment and the new law have some minimum wage exemptions, nowhere does it say that migrant agricultural workers are exempt from being paid the minimum wage, Wargowsky said.

"This law is exceptionally complicated. It is extremely important that factual information be provided so farmers and their employees understand how they will be affected," he said.

To try to set the record straight, Ohio Farm Bureau has been reaching out to reporters and editors through phone calls and letters to the editor. The misleading stories first appeared at the end of December and have run as recently as early February.

Wargowsky said it appears that some people don’t completely understand House Bill 690, which codified the constitutional amendment approved by voters.

"The majority of Ohio’s farmers will be required to pay the new wage. Two of the exceptions are small farms that use few workers or farms that have family members as the employees. This is not a large group," he said.

The constitutional amendment also exempted businesses with annual gross receipts of $250,000 or less and similar to the Federal Labor Standards Act, which exempts short-term and piece-rate farm workers.

The few exemptions that are in the new law were designed to protect businesses and jobs; not harm any specific group of workers, Wargowsky said.

He pointed out that the minimum wage is irrelevant for many agricultural workers.

"U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics put the average wage of Ohio field workers at $10.09 – that’s $3.24 more per hour than Ohio’s new minimum wage," Wargowsky said. "Plus, you need to calculate in that some farm workers and their families get free housing from their employers."

OFBF knows that the Ohio General Assembly will be asked to revisit HB 690 to make some changes.

In an effort to inform its members, Ohio Farm Bureau has compiled a fact sheet on both the wage requirements and administrative obligations enacted by the new law. Any changes, if enacted, also will be compiled. It can be found on the front page of OFBF’s Web site, www.ofbf.org.