Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73
§1841 Motor vehicle safety
Title 29 › Chapter CHAPTER 20— - MIGRANT AND SEASONAL AGRICULTURAL WORKER PROTECTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - FURTHER PROTECTIONS FOR MIGRANT AND SEASONAL AGRICULTURAL WORKERS › § 1841
Summary
Farm employers, farm labor contractors, and farm labor associations must make sure vehicles used to carry migrant or seasonal farm workers are safe, follow federal and state safety rules, and have drivers with the proper state licenses. They must also have an insurance policy or liability bond that covers injuries or property damage from owning or operating those vehicles. The rule does not cover workers riding on tractors, combines, pickers, or similar farm machines while they are actually planting, caring for, or harvesting crops or livestock. The Secretary must write safety rules for these vehicles that protect workers. In making rules, the Secretary must consider vehicle type, how many passengers, trip distance, road type, and whether the rule would place an undue burden on employers. These rules add to any applicable rules under part B of subtitle IV of title 49. If the Secretary does not issue rules by the effective date of this chapter, the standards in section 31502 of title 49 apply until the Secretary issues new ones. The Secretary also sets required insurance levels and must issue or revise the rules by regulation under section 1861. If a state workers’ compensation law already covers a worker’s injury or death during transport, the employer need not carry the extra bond or insurance for those covered situations, but must provide it where state coverage does not apply.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §1841
Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), this section applies to the transportation of any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker.
(2)This section does not apply to the transportation of any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker on a tractor, combine, harvester, picker, or other similar machinery and equipment while such worker is actually engaged in the planting, cultivating, or harvesting of any agricultural commodity or the care of livestock or poultry.
(b)(1)When using, or causing to be used, any vehicle for providing transportation to which this section applies, each agricultural employer, agricultural association, and farm labor contractor shall—
(A)ensure that such vehicle conforms to the standards prescribed by the Secretary under paragraph (2) of this subsection and other applicable Federal and State safety standards,
(B)ensure that each driver has a valid and appropriate license, as provided by State law, to operate the vehicle, and
(C)have an insurance policy or a liability bond that is in effect which insures the agricultural employer, the agricultural association, or the farm labor contractor against liability for damage to persons or property arising from the ownership, operation, or the causing to be operated, of any vehicle used to transport any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker.
(2)(A)For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to protect the health and safety of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers.
(B)To the extent consistent with the protection of the health and safety of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, the Secretary shall, in promulgating regulations under subparagraph (A), consider, among other factors—
(i)the type of vehicle used,
(ii)the passenger capacity of the vehicle,
(iii)the distance which such workers will be carried in the vehicle,
(iv)the type of roads and highways on which such workers will be carried in the vehicle,
(v)the extent to which a proposed standard would cause an undue burden on agricultural employers, agricultural associations, or farm labor contractors.
(C)Standards prescribed by the Secretary under subparagraph (A) shall be in addition to, and shall not supersede or modify, any standard under part B of subtitle IV of title 49, or regulations issued thereunder, which is independently applicable to transportation to which this section applies. A violation of any such standard shall also constitute a violation under this chapter.
(D)In the event that the Secretary fails for any reason to prescribe standards under subparagraph (A) by the effective date of this chapter, the standards prescribed under section 31502 of title 49, relating to the transportation of migrant workers, shall, for purposes of paragraph (1)(A), be deemed to be the standards prescribed by the Secretary under this paragraph, and shall, as appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances, apply (i) without regard to the mileage and boundary line limitations contained in such section, and (ii) until superseded by standards actually prescribed by the Secretary in accordance with this paragraph.
(3)The level of insurance required under paragraph (1)(C) shall be determined by the Secretary considering at least the factors set forth in paragraph (2)(B) and similar farmworker transportation requirements under State law.
(c)If an agricultural employer, agricultural association, or farm labor contractor is the employer of any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker for purposes of a State workers’ compensation law and such employer provides workers’ compensation coverage for such worker in the case of bodily injury or death as provided by such State law, the following adjustments in the requirements of subsection (b)(1)(C) relating to having an insurance policy or liability bond apply:
(1)No insurance policy or liability bond shall be required of the employer, if such workers are transported only under circumstances for which there is coverage under such State law.
(2)An insurance policy or liability bond shall be required of the employer for circumstances under which coverage for the transportation of such workers is not provided under such State law.
(d)The Secretary shall, by regulations promulgated in accordance with section 1861 of this title not later than the effective date of this chapter, prescribe the standards required for the purposes of implementing this section. Any subsequent revision of such standards shall also be accomplished by regulation promulgated in accordance with such section.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The
Effective Date
of this chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b)(2)(D) and (d), is the
Effective Date
of Pub. L. 97–470, which is ninety days from the date of enactment of Pub. L. 97–470, which was approved Jan. 14, 1983. Codification In subsec. (b)(2)(D), “section 31502 of title 49” substituted for “section 3102 of title 49” on authority of Pub. L. 103–272, §§ 1(c), (e), 6(b), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 745, 862, 1029, 1378. Previously, “section 3102 of title 49” substituted for “section 204(a)(3a) of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. 304(a)(3a))” on authority of Pub. L. 97–449, § 6(b), Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2443, the first section of which enacted subtitle I (§ 101 et seq.) and chapter 31 (§ 3101 et seq.) of subtitle II of Title 49, Transportation.
Amendments
1995—Subsec. (b)(2)(C). Pub. L. 104–88 substituted “part B of subtitle IV of title 49” for “part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, or any successor provision of subtitle IV of title 49”. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 104–49 amended par. (3) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (3) read as follows: “The level of the insurance required by paragraph (1)(C) shall be at least the amount currently required for common carriers of passengers under part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, and any successor provision of subtitle IV of title 49, and
Regulations
prescribed thereunder.”
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1995
Amendments
Amendment by Pub. L. 104–88 effective Jan. 1, 1996, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 1301 of Title 49, Transportation. Pub. L. 104–49, § 5(c), Nov. 15, 1995, 109 Stat. 435, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] takes effect upon the expiration of 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Nov. 15, 1995] or upon the issuance of final
Regulations
under subsection (b) [set out below], whichever occurs first.”
Effective Date
Section effective 90 days from Jan. 14, 1983, see section 524 of Pub. L. 97–470, set out as a note under section 1801 of this title.
Regulations
Pub. L. 104–49, § 5(b), Nov. 15, 1995, 109 Stat. 435, provided that: “Within 180 days of the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 15, 1995], the Secretary of Labor shall promulgate
Regulations
establishing insurance levels under section 401(b)(3) of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1841(b)(3)) as amended by subsection (a).” [Final
Regulations
implementing Pub. L. 104–49 were signed
May 13, 1996, published
May 16, 1996, 61 F.R. 24858, and effective the same day.]
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 1841
Title 29 — Labor
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73