California lawmakers explained earlier in August that the phase-in would be by annual half-hour-per-day increments until reaching eight hours, and annual five-hour-per-week increments until reaching 40 hours. “This is a just struggle, a just law for me and my co-workers”.
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The California Legislature exempted farm workers from earning overtime pay in 1941, until 1976, when the state Industrial Welfare Commission ordered overtime pay for farm workers after 10 hours on the job on any single day and 60 hours in a week, according to the LA Times. AB1066 passed in the Assembly late August and will allow farmworkers to begin receiving overtime.
Although the law itself will go into force slowly beginning in 2019, with the 10 hours worked per day threshold decreasing by a half hour each year until 2022, for most farms.
LeMay explained that during down periods on the farm, farmworkers generally collect unemployment, which is based on gross annual income. Brown signed Senate Bill 1015, to remove the sunset, without comment.
“The bill hurts both farmers and farm workers and will result in increased grocery bills and farmers leaving California”, said Sen. After 2025, however, the governor will no longer be able freeze the overtime requirement.
“Farmworkers were first excluded from the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which set standards for minimum wage, child labor laws, overtime pay and more”.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez serves as Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Women in the Workplace and represents the 80th Assembly District, which includes Chula Vista, National City and the San Diego neighborhoods of City Heights, Barrio Logan, Paradise Hills, San Ysidro and Otay Mesa.
Brown had not indicated in advance whether he would sign the bill, but advocates were confident of his support. Brown said in a press release.
Growers throughout the state have strongly opposed the bill, pointing to the cumulative effects of drought, pest threats, pesticide and fertilizer regulations and a labor shortage that have contributed to a multi-billion dollar decline for the industry throughout the state.
“For 78 years, a Jim Crow-era law discriminated against farm workers by denying us the same overtime rights that other workers benefit from”, said United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez in a statement. Critics said that to deal with the mandate, farmers will hire workers in shorter shifts, which will mean less money for workers.
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The phased in schedule takes into account the hardships faced by the agriculture industry but the change is “cautious, thoughtful but long overdue”, Jackson said.
