California Farmworkers Can Put a Lien on the Harvest for Unpaid Wages

A California crop lien amendment took effect on January 1, 2026 and removed a rule that limited the lien to farms owned by a limited partnership. Farmworkers who harvest or haul crops on any farm can now hold the harvest itself as security for unpaid wages. The Labor Commissioner used the lien in May 2026 for 11 farmworkers who harvested moringa in Mecca, in Riverside County’s Coachella Valley. The office recovered nearly $10,000 in wages and other amounts owed, according to a Department of Industrial Relations release dated September 9, 2026.

Under Civil Code § 3061.5, a worker who harvests crops or transports harvested crops has a lien on those crops, or on the money from their sale, for up to two weeks of earnings. The lien ends 45 days after the worker stops doing that work unless a claim is filed with the Labor Commissioner or a lawsuit is filed to enforce it. It adds to the ordinary wage and hour claims a farmworker can bring against an employer. Harvested crops can be sold quickly. The Labor Commissioner’s release explains that the lien gives workers a way to reach that money before the proceeds are paid out.

What SB 846 Changed About California Crop Liens

A crop lien is a legal claim that farmworkers hold against the crops they harvested, or the proceeds from selling them, for wages earned doing that work. Until this year it reached only crops owned and grown by a limited partnership, which left out farms organized any other way. SB 846, signed on July 14, 2025, removed that condition.

The lien belongs to employees who do the harvesting or hauling with their own labor. It attaches whether the work was done for the grower directly or for a farm labor contractor working under the grower’s authority. The statute treats the contractor as the grower’s agent. A crew hired through a contractor therefore holds a lien too, not only workers on the grower’s own payroll.

How Much a Crop Lien Can Cover

Section 3061.5 limits the lien in several ways:

• Per worker: up to two weeks of earnings, and never more than the reasonable value of the work or the pay rate the worker agreed to.
• Across all workers: the lesser of the proved claims or 25 percent of the crop’s fair market value, or 25 percent of the sale proceeds.
• Priority: the lien attaches from the first day of work and ranks ahead of other liens and claims on the crop.
• Bonded growers: there is no lien if the grower, or its labor contractor, gave the Labor Commissioner a surety bond before the harvest and for 45 days after it, covering all wages found due.
• Buyers: a buyer who purchases the crop in the ordinary course of business takes it free of the lien, so the claim may have to follow the sale money instead.

Where a court-ordered sale leaves too little to pay every worker’s lien, the money is divided among them in proportion to their claims. Whether the grower posted a bond, and who bought the crop, affect where the claim goes. A crew shorted on a recent harvest may still be inside the 45 days. Call 800-700-WAGE (9243) and the firm will go through your options with you at no cost, in English or Spanish.

The 45-Day Deadline and How the Labor Commissioner Files the Lien

The 45 days run from the worker’s last day of work on that harvest, under Civil Code § 3061.6. A claim filed with the Labor Commissioner within that window keeps the lien in force. The Commissioner must decide the claim within 180 days. Before filing a lien, the Commissioner checks whether the grower can pay. If a lien is needed to protect the workers, the Commissioner files it on the crop or its proceeds and notifies the grower and anyone who has filed a financing statement on the crop.

In the Mecca case the Labor Commissioner’s Office interviewed the workers on May 15, 2026 and filed the lien six days later. Its audit found unpaid minimum and contract wages, unpaid meal and rest period premiums, liquidated damages, and waiting time penalties. Payments to the workers began in June.

The lien does not replace a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner against the employer itself. Section 3061.6 preserves the worker’s right to sue whoever owes the wages. Anything collected that way is credited against the lien. The Labor Commissioner’s release states that workers who file wage claims are not required to disclose their immigration status. An employer that answers a complaint with threats about immigration status may face a separate retaliation claim.

The Nourmand Law Firm, APC represents farmworkers and other employees in wage claims in the Central Valley, the Coachella Valley, and the rest of the Inland Empire. On a harvest wage case, the last day worked is the first date it checks.

Contractor Crews, Bonds, and Other Crop Lien Questions

Does a Crop Lien Cover Workers Hired Through a Labor Contractor?

Yes. The lien attaches whether the grower or a contractor acting under the grower’s authority hired the crew. For a contractor’s crew, the lien does not reach work outside the scope of the contractor’s agreement with the grower, if the worker knew of that agreement before doing the work.

What Happens If the Grower Posted a Bond?

There is no lien. The bond must be conditioned on payment of all wages found due and unpaid for the harvest, so unpaid wages can be paid from the bond instead.

Does the Lien Cover Planting, Pruning, or Irrigation Work?

The statute covers harvesting crops and transporting harvested crops. Other farm work is not listed, though unpaid wages for that work can still be claimed from the employer through a wage claim or a lawsuit.

Acting on Unpaid Harvest Wages Before the 45 Days Run

A harvest crew that was shorted on pay, breaks, or overtime has a limited window to hold the crop, and the 45 days run from the last day of that work. The firm represents employees, never growers or labor contractors, in wage claims across California. The Nourmand Law Firm, APC works in English and Spanish. Call 800-700-WAGE (9243) or contact the firm to talk through what happened, at no cost.