Mar. 15—The State Farm Laborers Wage Board is recommending a 40-hour work week before overtime kicks in, to be phased in by 2032. The recommendation was reached January 28.
The board has not submitted its final report to State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, who will rule within 45-days, said NYS Department of Labor Public Information Officer Aaron Fallon.
The January recommendation made by the board spurred a reaction across-the-state from farmers and farm workers. A statewide campaign was launched by Grow New York Farms, a farm advocacy group, to call Governor Kathy Hochul on March 3 and ask her to "stay at 60" hour overtime threshold.
A Monday evening statement from Jim Urso, deputy director of communications in the of the governor said that Gov. Kathy Hochul trusted Reardon to make the correct choice.
"Gov. Hochul is committed to making New York the most business-friendly and worker-friendly state in the nation. We are confident that Commissioner Reardon will review the Board's recommendations closely and ensure that the final decision puts the State on a path to improve the lives of farm workers while protecting New York's vital farm industry."
Farmers such as Jim Bittner, proprietor of Bittner-Singer Orchards, participated in the phone-call campaign, saying that the final overtime threshold was the same number he would allow his employees to work. The result, Bittner said, of a 40-hour overtime threshold is that less agricultural workers would come...
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