A disagreement has emerged among government lawyers about whether single-family homes that farmers provide to workers fall under Oregon’s regulations for agricultural labor camps.

The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration believes the agency can regulate standalone dwellings offered by farmers to a limited number of employees, or those in the same family, as labor camps.

The issue has practical implications for farmers, as the agency’s interpretation would subject virtually any housing they offer to workers to OSHA’s recently upgraded standards for labor camps, which critics say will impose unreasonable costs on employers.

The Oregon Farm Bureau considers the interpretation a “significant blow to workers and employers alike,” since farmers often offer single-family homes on their property at “below market rates,” but may stop if it requires expensive remodeling.

“The unfortunate outcome of this overreach will be the loss of affordable housing for farmworkers and their families because farmers just cannot take on more liability,” according to the Farm Bureau.

The Office of Legislative Counsel, which advises lawmakers on legal issues, recently concluded that OSHA exceeded its authority by regulating such single-family dwellings as labor camps, but the Department of Justice has now come to the opposite conclusion.

Though the Legislative Counsel opinion found that single-family dwellings were “explicitly excluded” by law from the definition of agricultural labor camps, the Department of Justice has agreed with OSHA that statute only applies to registration requirements.

In other words, farmers don’t have to register such single-family dwellings as labor camps, but they must still comply with OSHA’s standards for farmworker housing.

The Department of Justice determined that OSHA has the authority to regulate any place related to employment, including “living quarters or shelters” provided to workers, with the exception of those occupied by a farmer’s own family.

The agency’s authority “does not contain a size restraint on labor camps,” so single-family dwellings are included in this definition, which is meant to be “broad” and “inclusive,” according to DOJ’s recent memorandum.

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, of which OSHA is a division, says the DOJ memorandum affirms the agency’s legal authority “which has been in place for decades,” and resolves “any uncertainty about the amendments Oregon OSHA adopted” for farmworker housing.

“We remain fully committed to helping employers implement the changes in the rule,” the agency said. “We have already published easy-to-use fact sheets and pocket-size cards about the changes, with more helpful resources on the way.”

However, lawmakers are considering a proposal aligned with Legislative Counsel’s interpretation of the law.

Senate Bill 999 would specify that farmworker camps only include housing that’s “provided as a term or condition of employment” on a “seasonal or temporary basis,” and do not include single-family dwellings occupied year-round or permanently by families or five or fewer employees.

The proposal has survived the year’s first legislative deadline and it’s scheduled for an April 3 public hearing and a possible vote by the Senate Labor and Business Committee on April 8.