The state’s Farm Laborers Wage Board by-passed a legal deadline to decide whether farm workers should receive overtime pay after working 40 hours a week. The state’s Department of Labor says it will instead hold more hearings on the issue, beginning in January.
The state’s Labor Commissioner, Roberta Reardon, citing a law passed in 2019, ordered the Farm Laborers Wage Board to decide by December 15 whether to implement a 40-hour work week for farm workers. The farm workers would be entitled to overtime if they worked more than that, similar to rules that apply to every other industry in the state.
However, instead of issuing a ruling, the Labor Department announced more hearings to look into the issue. They will be held on January 4, 18 and another date yet to be finalized.
That decision angered some farm workers and their union allies, who held a Zoom call to urge the Labor Department to move faster.
Luis, a 17-year veteran of farm work who did not want to give his last name, says he and other workers don’t want to harm the state’s agricultural industry, but he says they deserve to be treated like other workers and receive overtime after 40 hours, and designated days off for rest.
He spoke through an interpreter.
"We work in the cold and the heat. We work in extreme temperatures we don’t complain when we’re working," Luis said.
"We’re not machines that can just be replaced. We are essential workers.”
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