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The New York Farm Laborers Wage Board formally sent its recommendation to the state labor commissioner Tuesday that the farmworker overtime threshold be lowered. Farm labor advocates are calling for the recommendations to be approved as soon as possible while farmers say the process was stacked against them.
Press release: After today’s release of the Farm Laborers Wage Board report, members of the Grow NY Farms Coalition called on Governor Hochul and Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon to reject the report and maintain the current overtime threshold at 60 hours per week. Members of the Grow NY Farms Coalition stated that the report is the product of a flawed process.
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The New York Department of Labor’s Farm Wage Board held three meetings in late December to determine if the overtime threshold for farm workers should be lowered. Their decision to wait at least a year was issued on New Year’s Eve.
New York’s Farm Workers Labor Law of 2019, which became effective January 1st, 2020, includes requirements to provide at least one day off per week; unemployment insurance coverage, paid family leave and the right to organize. The agriculture industry was also allowed to keep an exemption allowing 60 hours of work before overtime is paid. The new law required a wage board to determine if and when that overtime threshold could be lowered to 40 hours per week.