As Oregon legislators again consider mandating overtime for farmworkers, the report found most employers wouldn’t be able to absorb the costs. A University of Oregon political economist said similarly dire predictions weren’t borne out in other states that have recently mandated agricultural overtime pay.
A recent economic report commissioned by the Oregon Farm Bureau said requiring overtime pay for agricultural workers would overwhelm farmers with higher costs and have mixed impacts on how much farmworkers take home.
The report comes as some Oregon legislators are again pushing to mandate overtime for agricultural workers during the 2022 session after a similar effort in 2021 died in committee.
The nonprofit Salem-based farm bureau asked Highland Economics, a Portland-based firm, to gather and analyze data about the potential impacts of mandating agricultural overtime. They sought the study after getting pushback from Oregon legislators who questioned the validity of employer concerns that requiring overtime pay would be detrimental to the industry, said Executive Vice President Dave Dillon.
Employers in Oregon are generally required to pay non-manager employees one and a half times their hourly pay when they work more than 40 hours per week, but most agricultural workers are exempt from those State Bureau of Labor and Industries rules.
The exemption is the subject of a pending legal challenge in the Oregon Court of Appeals. On Nov. 30, the Oregon Law Center filed a...
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