Improving the economic security of agricultural workers -- New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty

The Foundation's Roadmaps to Health Community grants initiative was designed to identify, support, and disseminate models of cross-sector coalitions working to improve health by taking action to address the social and economic determinants of health, such as education, employment, income, community safety, and family and social support.The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty will build on past successes ending poor agricultural laborers' exclusion from the Workers Compensation system to address wage theft issues affecting low-income agricultural workers in New Mexico. The focus of the change will be to ensure that the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, the state agency responsible for investigation of wage theft claims and enforcing existing laws, changes its current policies and practices and begins properly enforcing employment and compensation laws. This project will develop a campaign that includes advocacy, education, training, and organizing of low-income workers to address the issue of wage theft and barriers to unemployment benefit claims that deprive workers of compensation. No legislative change will be sought and no RWJF dollars will be used for lobbying. Deliverables include completion of a survey of field and dairy workers in New Mexico, research on and documentation of labor law violations, training for employers on labor laws, educational materials and media stories on the issue of wage theft and related employment violations.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $180,000.00

Awarded on: 11/1/2012

Time frame: 11/1/2012 - 10/31/2014

Grant Number: 70525