Dairy Overtime Ruling Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. A ruling from the Washington State Supreme Court will require ag employers to pay farmworkers time-and-a-half for overtime worked, removing the state’s exemption.Dan Wood, executive director at the Washington State Dairy Federation, says the ruling could someday impact more than the just Washington’s dairy industry …
WOOD … “This happened to be filed against a dairy employer and so the ruling is about the overtime exemption as applied to dairies. But, they just need to file something against a berry grower, or a fruit grower and then they’ll get it applied to all of ag, probably on summary judgement.”
Wood says state lawmakers saw need for this exemption more than half a century ago …
WOOD … “So, the legislature knew what they were doing when they granted this exemption, yet the court said gosh we couldn’t find the reasoning if the legislature and we just don’t think they should have done it, so they wiped it out after 60 years.”
So, is there any recourse or appeal? …
WOOD … “Well, it’s a State Supreme Court ruling on a State Constitutional issue so there is no higher court to go to when it comes to interpreting Washington state’s constitution. We can file a motion for reconsideration. We are considering that option.”
Listen tomorrow for more on the overtime ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court and the options farmers are now looking at.