Farmworkers Speak Out Against 2020 Overtime Ruling

In November, the Washington Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the state’s overtime exemption violated Washington employment laws. With that ruling, Washington granted farm workers time-and-a-half pay once they work more than 40 hours in a week. However, many of those impacted workers are speaking out against the court’s decision and calling on lawmakers to reinstate the original minimum wage exemption.

In a video recently released by Save Family Farming, farm employees across the state talk about the negative repercussions of November’s ruling.

“If I were to talk to the lawmakers, I would say they really got to look at this from a farmer’s point of view, and an employee’s point of view, because I mean, it’s easy for them to make rulings without knowing how it’s going to affect the employer and the employee,” said one of the participating farmers.

Some said they’ve lost schedule flexibility, impacting their family, and other say they’ve see a cut in their take home pay. Click Here to watch the entire video.

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