Fairness for Farm Workers

Full Title:
Fairness for Farm Workers Act

Summary#

This bill would change parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to give more labor protections to people who work in agriculture. It adds overtime pay for many agricultural employees who are engaged in commerce or produce goods for commerce. Overtime would start once weekly hours pass a set limit that falls over time: 55 hours (Jan 1, 2027), 50 hours (Jan 1, 2028), 45 hours (Jan 1, 2029), and 40 hours (Jan 1, 2030). Employers that have 25 or fewer employees get a delayed schedule that begins in 2030 and reaches 40 hours by 2033. The bill also repeals subsection (m) of section 7 and removes or narrows several exemptions in section 13 related to agricultural workers, including narrowing the family-employee exemption to a parent, spouse, child, or other immediate family member and repealing multiple other exemption paragraphs and subsections. The bill sets different effective dates for various amendments depending on employer size and makes conforming changes to another agricultural worker law to update how a 500 man-days threshold is described.

What it means for you#

  • If you are an agricultural worker covered by the bill and your work is connected to commerce, you would become eligible for overtime pay once your weekly hours exceed the phased-in hourly thresholds listed above.
  • If you work for a small farm or employer with 25 or fewer employees, the new overtime thresholds and some other changes start later (beginning in 2030 and reaching full effect by 2033 for most changes).
  • If you are an employer who uses the current agricultural exemptions, some of those exemptions would be narrowed or removed, and the timing of the changes depends on how many employees you have.
  • Immediate family employment exemptions would be limited to parent, spouse, child, or other immediate family members as defined in the amended text.

Expenses#

No publicly available information on costs or budgetary estimates is included in the bill text or provided materials.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information on proponents' stated views or arguments is included in the bill text or metadata.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information on opponents' stated views or arguments is included in the bill text or metadata.