No Changes To Overtime a Win for New York Farmworkers
January 5, 2021 Late last week, the New York State Labor Department wage board chose to make no changes to overtime rules for farmworkers in the coming year. This came after much debate over consideration of lowering the 60-hour farm labor overtime threshold, which was established in the Farm Workers Fair Labor Practices Act of 2019.
Several state agricultural organizations sent a joint letter to New York Gov. Cuomo last month outlining why a further reduction in the overtime hourly threshold will be detrimental to the livelihoods of farmers and farmworkers across the state and will expedite automation upon the rural landscape.
Those same groups are hailing the Labor Department’s decision as a win, especially during a year heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
The New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) released the following statement regarding the decision:
The Farm Labor Wage Board made the right decision today to delay consideration of lowering the 60-hour farm labor overtime threshold during this unprecedented year. New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher supported Chair Brenda McDuffie’s position of delaying a decision and avoiding any unintended consequences that could negatively impact New York’s farmworkers, family farms, and access to local food.
“I had encouraged giving the process more time to fully evaluate what a lower threshold would mean for all involved, especially with such limited data from this challenging year. I’d like to thank my fellow wage board members for their time and professionalism and encourage the Department of Labor to continue to work with the farming community to do what is best for our farms and employees. We need each other for agricultural production and our rural economies to flourish,” said NYFB President Fisher.
New York Farm Bureau also thanks its members who testified and submitted written comments. The care they have for the men and women who are essential workers on their farms is evident. We all value their work and want the very best for farm employees, that includes the ability to earn a good livelihood in the profession they have chosen.
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