DENVER — Colorado lawmakers are weighing a bill that would raise overtime thresholds for farmworkers, reigniting a debate over a labor policy adopted just five years ago.
If passed, the bill would raise the number of hours farmworkers must work before earning overtime from 48 hours to 56 per week. The bill, sponsored by Senators Robert Rodriguez (D-Denver) and Cleave Simpson (R-Alamosa), as well as Representatives Matthew Martinez (D–Monte Vista) and Ty Winter (R-Trinidad), passed the Senate last month in a 19-16 vote.
While the bill awaits a full House vote, it has exposed divisions across the agricultural industry, among both farmers and farmworkers. If enacted, the law would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and could change how many hours farmworkers work, how much they earn each week and how much farmers must pay in labor costs.
“We think that the bill is a rollback of critical overtime protection for agricultural workers who only just acquired these rights and they're already threatening to roll them back,” said Hunter Knapp, development director for Project Protect Food Systems Workers, a nonprofit that supports agricultural workers across Colorado.
In 2021, Colorado passed the Agricultural Workers’ Rights Act, expanding protections for agricultural workers, including the right to minimum wage and overtime pay, which they had historically been exempt from. The law required the state labor department to phase in overtime rules that are currently in place: overtime pay after...
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