1. Labor Commissioner's Office

Overtime for Agricultural Workers

Assembly Bill 1066 (2016) created a timetable for agricultural workers to receive overtime pay so that they will gradually receive overtime pay on the same basis as workers in most other industries.

The number of hours worked per day or per week before overtime pay is required at a rate of one and one-half times the agricultural employee’s regular rate of pay will phase-in according to the following schedule:

Schedule for Changes to Daily and Weekly Hours After Which Agricultural Workers Receive Overtime Pay

Effective date for employers with 26 or more employees: Effective date for employers with 25 or fewer employees Overtime (1.5x regular rate of pay) required after the following hours per day / hours per workweek:
Jan. 1, 2019 Jan. 1, 2022 9.5 / 55
Jan. 1, 2020 Jan. 1, 2023 9 / 50
Jan. 1, 2021 Jan. 1, 2024 8.5 / 45
Jan. 1, 2022* Jan. 1, 2025* 8 / 40

*Double the regular rate of pay required after 12 hours in a workday.
For pre-existing overtime requirements for agricultural workers, including on the 7th day of work in a workweek, please see Wage Order 14.

 

Beginning January 1, 2017, agricultural workers are entitled to all statutory protections in the working hours and overtime requirements in Labor Code sections 500 through 556, and Labor Code section 558.1, from which they were previously excluded (but the daily and weekly overtime thresholds apply according to the timeline indicated above). This means that certain rights of agricultural employees and obligations of agricultural employers are now specifically set forth in the Labor Code, in addition to the protections available under the applicable Wage Order. This includes, for example, standards regarding meal periods, alternative workweek schedules, make-up work time, the collective bargaining agreement exemption, the one day’s rest in seven requirement, and the administrative, executive, or professional overtime exemption standard. 

Agricultural employees are also generally entitled to time and one-half pay for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work, and double-time pay for all work performed in excess of eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of work. These protections from Wage Order 14 (Agricultural Employers) continue to apply, consistent with Labor Code section 510, regardless of employer size.

Agricultural workers are defined in Wage Order 14 and include employees 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. 

Resources

October 2023