Ag Overtime Updt Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The first season without an overtime exemption for agriculture is underway. Overtime pay is scheduled to be phased in to
anything over 40-hours over the next few years.
But as we know, Pam Lewison, Washington Policy Center Initiative on Ag Director, says that’s not going to be easy, if even possible, for many in agriculture …
LEWISON … “There’s a lot of questions marks on that 40-hour mark because we have a really labor-intensive specialty crop market here in Washington and 40 hours is challenging for a lot of the things that we grow here, a lot of the things that we are recognized for on a national and global scale. And that’s something that’s going to take time for growers to figure out if their even able to do, to be honest.”
Lewison says there was an attempt in the last legislative session to at least give employers a seasonal exemption …
LEWISON … “House bill 1750 was the bill that was introduced by Representative Hoff. That bill did not move before cutoff. It wasn’t even heard in its committee of origin, which is unfortunate. But I think ultimately, we as a community need to be able to show what the rate of attrition looks like in ag workers before that seasonality language is going to get the hearing it deserves.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on Washington’s new ag overtime rules, why it’s not good for agriculture and what it may take to get lawmakers to even consider that seasonal exemption.
