Overtime Pay Legislation Pt 1

Overtime Pay Legislation Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I’m Bob Larson. What was a “shield” is now a ‘sword.’ A Senate bill originally written to protect ag employers has been amended to require all ag employees to be paid three years back overtime pay, with interest.

If it passes, Washington Policy Center’s Pam Lewison says farmers could lose everything just for following what the law was at the time …

LEWISON … “Pay that we’re talking about in this retroactive action doesn’t exist. All of these workers were paid, in full, the amount that they were owed. So, whatever they’re seeking retroactively is something else. It’s sort of reaching back in time to apply a current court ruling in the past for something that didn’t exist when they were being paid previously.”

Lewison says the original bill was in response to a series of lawsuits brought against diaries just a few months after the Supreme Court ruled ag’s overtime exemption was unconstitutional …

LEWISON … “The legislation that we’re looking at in Olympia, which is substitute Senate bill 5172, would apply not just to agriculture, but to all overtime-exempt businesses.”

As originally written, Lewison says the bill was much different …

LEWISON … “It would rule out the ability of any employee to do this reaching back in time, this retroactive seeking of overtime.”

Lewison says ag employers AND employees all need to let their legislators know what a bad idea this is.

Listen tomorrow for more on Substitute Senate bill 5172.

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