Likely overtime increase for N.Y. farmworkers draws ire of Republicans

ALBANY — New York’s three-member Farm Laborers Wage Board voted, 2 to 1, on Tuesday to recommend lowering the overtime threshold for farmworkers to 40 hours a week from 60.

The proposal, which prompted outrage from Republicans and some farmers who argue the change will devastate small, family-run operations in the Empire State, now goes to state Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon for approval.

If adopted, the new regulations would be phased in over a 10-year period beginning in 2024. Reardon has 45 days to accept, reject or modify the board’s decision.

“It has been made clear throughout these proceedings that action is needed,” board Chairwoman Brenda McDuffie said. “It’s our duty to protect tens of thousands of farmworkers and align their rights with those in other industries. We also have a duty to protect the farmers.”

Backlash to the recommendation was swift as Republicans and some farm groups slammed the potential change as a burden for farmers.

The change “will further burden New York’s hardworking farmers and hinder their ability to get workers for their farms, and compete with other states for business,” said Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-L.I.), the Republican nominee for governor.

“New York should have laws that benefit and help our citizens, not ones that hurt them and encourage people to do business elsewhere,” he added.

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Oswego) called the overtime threshold an “unnecessary, costly regulation.”

“At a time when famers can least afford it, Democrats are adding even more regulatory pressure and cutting into razor-thin margins,” he said. “The agriculture industry cannot sustain any more strain, and the ensuing layoffs, closures and production cutbacks will wreak havoc on both farmers and farmworkers.”

Farmhands became eligible for overtime only in recent years following a long-sought change to state law that expanded basic workplace protections for those laborers.

In 2020, New York mandated extra pay for farmworkers who exceeded 60 hours a week and created the Wage Board to weigh whether or not to lower the threshold. The state law added protections for farmworkers that were already guaranteed to others, including the right to collective bargaining, overtime pay and a day of rest.

A tax credit for farm owners who comply with the new overtime rules was included in this year’s state budget.

Supporters celebrated the possibility of farmworkers being afforded the same overtime rules that apply to other New Yorkers.

“This important and long-overdue action means farmworkers in New York State are now a step closer to being fairly compensated for the essential and often physically grueling work they do,” New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said in a statement.

New York Civil Liberties Union senior attorney for legislative affairs Lisa Zucker encouraged the state to enact the recommendations and said the tax credit offered will more than compensate farmers for the increase in overtime pay.

“Farmworkers have waited over 80 years for an end to the racist exclusion that has stolen countless hours of overtime pay,” Zucker said. “Gov. Hochul and Commissioner Reardon must prevent another generation of workers from suffering by unequivocally accepting the Wage Board’s recommendation.”