Farmworker Legal Services

General information

Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan (FLS) is a nonprofit, public-interest legal aid office that provides free civil legal services to indigent migrant and seasonal farmworkers throughout the state of Michigan. From its office in Kalamazoo, the organization provides access to legal services to the approximately 90,000 eligible farmworkers and their dependents throughout Michigan.

Farm work is the second most dangerous occupation in the United States; the average farmworker has a life expectancy of less than 50 years. The average farmworker earns less than $15,000 per year, and the average family income is less than $20,000. In addition to poverty, other unique barriers prevent this population from accessing needed resources:

Communication difficulties - Michigan farmworkers are predominantly Spanish-speakers in an overwhelmingly English-speaking environment.

Geographic isolation - The homes and work sites of this population are usually scattered throughout remote, rural locations.

Transience - Farmworkers must continually move from place to place to follow the crops.

Lack of education - Continuous migration patterns interfere with long-term education. The average level of completed education is eighth grade

Cultural insensitivity - The vast majority of Michigan's farmworkers are of Latino descent, with other minorities represented. They must often confront cultural and racial stereotyping and other trust-inhibiting treatment.

The legal problems that farmworkers confront include:
- Failure to be paid minimum wage for their work, or not being paid at all
- Recruitment abuses and unexpected changes in the employment contract
- Substandard health and safety conditions in the migrant labor camps
- Inadequate workplace sanitation (toilets, drinking water, and hand-washing facilities in the fields)
- Confusion about immigration status, immigration laws, and governmental procedures
- Denial of equal access to public benefits, services, and accommodations