PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 23, 2020
Frontline At-Risk Manual Laborers Protection Act or the FARM Laborers Protection Act This bill requires agricultural employers that receive federal agricultural-specific funding related to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) to provide employees with emergency paid sick leave and specified premium pay through 90 days after the date on which the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. Specifically, during such period, such agricultural employers must provide paid sick time to employees who are unable to work due to the effects of COVID-19. Full-time employees are entitled to 80 hours of such leave and part-time employees are entitled to such leave in the amount of the average number of hours the employee works during an average two-week period. Under current law, employers of fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from these emergency paid sick leave requirements. The bill also requires such agricultural employers to provide premium pay of $13 per hour up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee, or a maximum of $5,000 for employees who earn $100,000 or more per year, during the public health emergency and 90 days thereafter. The Department of Labor must provide grants for agricultural employers to meet these premium pay requirements. Labor also must promulgate rules to limit the involuntary furlough or termination of applicable agricultural workers during such time period. Additionally, the bill establishes grants to agricultural employers with 50 or fewer employees to provide employees with handwashing stations, portable restrooms, and personal protective equipment that comply with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People & committees
Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] · D–OR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jan 3, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.4042 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.4042 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.4042 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.4042 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.