But as Washington inches closer to being one of just two states to provide a 40-hour workweek for agricultural workers come 2024, it’s clear making history may come with a cost.
Labor advocates see ag-worker overtime as an overdue moral victory, while those in the agricultural industry argue it might not lead to the additional pay agricultural workers need.
Those two arguments took center stage during a state Senate Labor and Commerce Committee hearing on Feb. 9 to make a case for a seasonal exemption.
Under Senate Bill 5476, agricultural producers could identify, at the start of the year, 12 weeks when the threshold for overtime would increase from 40 to 50 hours a week. This would be a modification of the previously passed legislation, which had been implemented in a three-year phase-in starting in January 2022 and reaching a 40-hour threshold for overtime in 2024.
Growers argued the proposed exemption was necessary to help them transition to overtime when production costs are increasing without a concurrent increase in income on the wholesale market. Agricultural workers also testified in favor of the exemption, expressing concerns about reduced work hours.
Labor advocates, however, argued against scaling back efforts to end the exclusion of agricultural workers from critical worker protections. Ag workers also spoke against the bill as well.
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