The 2019 Changes to the Overtime Exemption For Agricultural Workers.

The Labor Commissioner’s Office has posted guidance for agricultural employers and workers on an overtime pay schedule that went into effect January 1. The law’s overtime pay requirements (a departure from the overtime exemption that existed for agricultural employees) will be phased in. “We encourage large and small agricultural employers in the state to note the new farmworker overtime pay requirements that will phase in until a 40-hour standard workweek is reached,” said California Labor Secretary Julie A. Su. For the first year of the phase-in, agricultural workers at large businesses earn overtime pay for all hours worked over 9.5 hours in a day or over 55 hours in a workweek. Small employers have an additional three years before the changes to daily and weekly overtime pay take effect. Agricultural workers are defined in Wage Order 14 and include employees who are engaged in the preparation and treatment of farmland as well as the care and harvesting of crops. Agricultural workers include employees engaged in sheepherding, irrigation and licensed crew members on commercial fishing vessels.