Delaware - Workers’ Rights

Definition of agricultural worker under state law:

• Delaware’s workers’ compensation law uses the term “farm laborer”, but does not define this phrase.

Wages and Overtime

Minimum Wage

• Delaware has a state minimum wage law. (19 Del. C. § 902)

• Delaware’s hourly minimum wage is:
  • $15 effective Jan. 1, 2025.
  • $13.25 effective Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2024.
  • $11.75 effective Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023.
• The state’s hourly minimum wage is to rise annually until it reaches $15 in 2025.
• Upon the establishment of a federal minimum wage higher than the Delaware’s minimum wage, the state minimum wage is to increase to match the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
• There are different wages for different occupations such as tipped workers.

• Agricultural workers are excluded from the state minimum wage. Individuals employed in agriculture are not considered employees under the minimum wage law. (19 Del. C. § 901).

Overtime

• Delaware does not have a state law regarding overtime pay. 

State Enforcement Agency

Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs

Website: https://dia.delawareworks.com/labor-law/wage-payment.php
Relevant Forms: https://dia.delawareworks.com/labor-law/documents/Wage%20Payment%20Claim%20Form.pdf?20180216

Occupational Safety and Health

Workers’ Compensation

• Agricultural workers (“farm laborers”) are not covered by the state workers’ compensation law. Employers may elect to provide workers’ compensation coverage to their employees. (19 Del. C. § 2307(b))

State Enforcement Agency:
Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs

Website: https://dia.delawareworks.com/workers-comp/
Relevant Forms: https://dia.delawareworks.com/workers-comp/forms.php

Field Sanitation

• Delaware has state regulations governing field sanitation. (DEL. CODE ANN. tit. 16, § 122; 16 DEL. ADMIN. CODE §§ 4447-1.0–7.0)

State Enforcement Agency:
Delaware Health and Social Services

Website: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/

Pesticide Safety

• Delaware has a state law regarding pesticide safety in agriculture. (3 Del. Admin. C. Section 600 – Pesticides)
• Suspected pesticide poisoning is an optional reportable illness for health care providers.

State Enforcement Agency:
Delaware Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Management

Website: https://agriculture.delaware.gov/pesticide-management/

Right to Join Unions and Collective Bargaining in Agriculture

• There is no provision (or judicial interpretation of a provision) in the state constitution that grants farmworkers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation or to engage in collective bargaining with their employers.
• There is no state statute that grants agricultural workers the right to join and organize labor unions free from retaliation (such as being fired, demoted or disciplined) or to engage in collective bargaining with agricultural employers.

State Legal Services Organizations

Maryland Legal Aid, Farmworker Program (based out of Maryland)
http://www.mdlab.org