New overtime laws in Washington state, designed to benefit farmworkers, are leading some workers to call for the law’s removal as they face reduced working hours.
Legislative background: The law, which brings agricultural workers in line with other industries, was implemented in Washington state in 2022 and will progressively lower the hourcap for overtime pay each year until 2024.
* Prior to this law, under Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, agricultural workers were not entitled to overtime pay.
* Farmworkers like Patricia Mendoza, who can work as many as 70 hours in a week, initially celebrated the law.
Impact on the ground: However, some farm owners like Alan Schreiber, who runs Schreiber Farms, have limited workers’ hours to avoid paying overtime, leading some farmworkers to earn less.
* Trying to remain profitable, Schreiber has engaged a labor contractor to bring in additional workers, thereby distributing the hours, and keeping most workers to a weekly 48-hour limit.
* Employees such as Mendoza have seen their work time notably reduced from this change in policy.
National and state perspective: This change brings the farming sector in line with other industries and attempts to address the fact that previously agriculture was one of the few sectors where long hours without guaranteed overtime pay was the norm.
* President Biden has advocated for farmworker overtime at a national level, without success.
* New York, Colorado and Oregon are among states also phasing in laws requiring overtime for farmworkers.
The economic argument: Farm owners like Schreiber argue that overtime laws make small farming businesses economically unviable, especially given the global competition.
* For example, Mexican and Peruvian asparagus, produced by cutters earning far less than those in the US, pose serious competition for U.S. farmers.
* The potential solutions suggested are a seasonal exemption from the overtime law, a tax credit for farm owners and higher prices for farm products.
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