BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1121
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Date of Hearing: June 23, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Sandre Swanson, Chair
SB 1121 (Florez) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 23-12
SUBJECT : Overtime wages: agricultural workers.
SUMMARY: This bill deletes the overtime pay and meal period
exemptions for agricultural workers. Specifically, this bill
deletes the provision of the Labor Code that exempts
agricultural employees from the following:
1)Overtime compensation when an individual works in excess of
eight hours in one workday or work in excess of 40 hours in
any one workweek:
2)A mandatory 30 minute meal break before the start of the fifth
hour of work, unless the work period is no more than six hours
and both the employer and the employee choose to waive the
meal period by mutual consent.
3)A second mandatory 30 minute meal break after ten hours of
work that can be waived by the mutual consent of the employer
and employee, if the work period is no more than 12 hours, and
the first meal period was not waived.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW :
1)Establishes the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets
minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth
employment standards affecting full-time and part-time workers
in the private sector and federal, state and local
governments.
a) Exempts, from minimum wage and overtime pay
requirements, farm workers employed by anyone who used no
more than 500 "man-days" of farm labor in any calendar
quarter of the preceding calendar year.
b) Exempts farm workers from overtime pay.
2)Establishes the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker
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Protection Act to protect migrant and seasonal agricultural
workers in their interactions with farm labor contractors,
agricultural employers, agricultural associations and
providers of migrant housing.
EXISTING STATE LAW exempts persons employed in an agricultural
occupation, as defined in the Industrial Welfare Commission
Order number 14-80 (Revised), from overtime pay and meal period
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
In 1941 the state Legislature exempted all agricultural
employees from the statutory requirements of overtime, in a
manner similar to the FLSA. For the succeeding 58 years, this
overtime exemption remained largely unchanged until it was
indirectly extended to meal periods in 1999.
The current exemption, however, did not prohibit the Industrial
Welfare Commission (IWC) from legally instituting overtime
provisions that allow employees to work beyond the eight-hour
day limit. Currently, IWC Wage Order number 14-80 (wage order
14-80), revised January 1, 1998, requires the payment of
overtime wages when an agricultural employee works longer than
10 hours in a single day, and no more than six days during any
workweek.. Wage order 14-80 also requires a meal period after
the fifth hour of work, but unlike statute is silent on a second
meal period after the tenth hour of work.
According to a 1998 California Research Bureau (CRB) report
entitled "Farm Workers in California" (CRB Report), California
is the nation's largest agricultural state, producing more than
250 different crops valued at nearly $25 billion dollars. While
farm workers play a significant role State's most important
industries, they also face difficult working conditions
including low earnings, poor or no health benefits, substandard
housing, physically taxing and sometimes unsafe work conditions,
and long hours. The CRB Report notes that the majority of farm
workers work nine or more months during the year and work 46
hours or more per week.
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Agricultural Worker Income
According to California's Agricultural Employment, a report
produced by the Employment Development Department (EDD Report)
in 2008, California's agricultural labor force was is comprised
of 372,600 workers. The EDD Report states that 48.6 percent of
those workers reported annual family income of less than
$35,000. One out of every eight agricultural workers reported
annual income of less than $15,000. In contrast, the EDD Report
notes, 21 percent of nonagricultural workers reported an annual
family income of less than $35, 000 and only 5.6 percent, or one
in 20, reported annual family income of less thank $15,000.
The EDD Report states that over 61.8 percent of California's
agricultural workers earned $10 an hour or less in 2008; with
37.6 percent earning the State's $8 minimum wage. The report
also notes that 23.8 percent of agricultural workers earned
between $10.1 and $15 an hour, 14.4 percent earned more than $15
an hour, and 8.6 percent earned more than $20 per hour. Between
2006 and 2008, the minimum wage rose from $6.75 an hour to $8 an
hours.
According to the EDD Report, farm laborers tend to be the lowest
paid agricultural workers. In 2008, 86.7 percent of California
agricultural workers who earned $10 or less worked in farming,
fishing, and forestry occupations. In 2001, the National
Agricultural Workers Survey notes that 30 percent of all farm
workers have family incomes below the poverty line. The average
individual income range was $10,000 to $12, 499 while the
average family income range was between $15,000 and $17,499.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT :
In support of the bill, the California Applicants' Attorneys
Association argues that the current exemption from overtime pay
is based on an obsolete 70 year old federal provision. They
assert that this bill is a simple matter of fundamental
fairness. The California Labor Federation writes that
California has long supported its agricultural industry with
considerable public subsides and investment. They assert that
it is time for the State to support the people whose work in the
fields makes the California agricultural industry among the
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world's most productive and profitable. The California Rural
Legal Assistance Foundation writes that this bill will extend to
farm workers the same overtime protections enjoyed by millions
of other California workers and provide, for the first time,
weekly day of rest requirement. They state that this bill will
bring and end to a sorry chapter of agricultural exceptionalism
in California law as it relates to wage and hour conditions that
affect hundreds of thousands of farm workers.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION :
Opponents note that agriculture is critically affected and
dependent on weather conditions and the seasonality of
agricultural production, and opponents argue that this requires
greater flexibility in scheduling work than other industries,
which is currently reflected in both federal and state labor
laws. Opponents also argue that California already has the
nation's most progressive labor protections for agricultural
production, and that no other state currently requires overtime
once agricultural workers have exceeded the 40 hour work week.
Moreover, opponents argue that due to razor-thin profit margins,
farmers will be forced to cut hours and layoff employees if they
face an increase in labor costs. Opponents believe that this
will hurt the California economy, as agriculture has aided the
state's recovery during the current economic downturn, as well
as place the state's agricultural industry at a competitive
disadvantage.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Applicants' Attorneys Association
California Communities United Institute
California Conference Board of Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Employment Lawyers Association
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing
Committee
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Consumer Attorneys of California
Engineers & Scientists of California, IFPTE, Local 20
Food Empowerment Project
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International Longshore & Warehouse Union
Jockeys' Guild
Numerous Individuals
Professional & Technical Engineers, IFPTE, Local 21
United Food & Commercial Workers Western States Council
UNITE-HERE
Utility Workers Union of America, Local 132
Opposition
Agricultural Council of California
Alliance of Western Milk Producers
Allied Grape Growers
California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers
California Association of Wheat Growers
California Association of Winegrape Growers
California Bean Shippers Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Citrus Mutual
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Grain and Feed Association
California Grape and Tree Fruit League
California Pear Growers Association
California Producer Handler Association
California Seed Association
California State Floral Association
California Warehouse Association
California Women for Agriculture
Family Winemakers of California
Grower-Shipper Association of Central Californoa
Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Santa Barbara and San
Luis Obispo Counties
Nisei Farmers League
Pacific Coast Renderers Association
Pacific Egg & Poultry Association
Rockview Dairy
Ventura County Agricultural Association
Western Agricultural Processors Association
Western Growers
Western United Dairymen
Wine Institute
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinley / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091