On January 25, 300 farm laborers demonstrated against Washington’s agricultural overtime legislation, which went into force on the first of the year. The rule mandated producers, particularly dairy farmers, to start paying overtime for workers who worked more than 40 hours per week in 2021. The event attempted to argue for seasonal exceptions to overtime regulations, and it drew support from the tree fruit and other agricultural businesses.
Hundreds of agricultural workers, mostly from central and eastern Washington, gathered at the state house on Thursday. While they are not opposed to being paid overtime, the reality of this new regulation is that their workers’ hours are capped at 40 hours per week, resulting in lower total income. Jason Sheehan, a fourth-generation dairy farmer who owns J & K Dairy, has been providing some type of overtime compensation to his dairy workers for years as he saw other states gradually implement overtime standards.
The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will conduct a hearing on Jan. 30 on a measure that would allow farms to increase the overtime threshold to 50 hours for 12 weeks per year, a “seasonality clause” requested by agricultural laborers during peak harvest seasons.
Land labor expenditures account for around 14% of a dairy’s overall expenses, and labor expenses increased 7.3% over 2020, reaching a 20-year high. California was the first state to impose overtime laws for agricultural enterprises (phased in).
