S-0836.1
SENATE BILL 5487
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Senators King, Chapman, Dozier, Holy, Schoesler, Short, Torres, Warnick, and J. Wilson
Read first time 01/24/25. Referred to Committee on Labor & Commerce.
AN ACT Relating to authorizing an agricultural employer to select any 12 weeks in a calendar year as special circumstance weeks for labor demand, during which in each of the selected 12 weeks, the agricultural employer may employ agricultural employees for up to 50 hours before the requirement to pay overtime applies under RCW 49.46.130 ; amending RCW 49.46.130 ; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature recognizes the vital importance of Washington's agricultural labor force and its contributions to the state's cultural, economic, and social diversity. The legislature also recognizes the economic burden placed on agricultural workers through the enactment of the overtime pay law. Since its inception, the law has had the unintended consequences of reduced hours of employment and a corresponding loss of earned income.
(2) In 2020, in a 5-4 opinion, the Washington supreme court ruled in Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy (DeRuyter) that the existing exemption from overtime in agricultural employment was unconstitutional as it applied to employment in the dairy industry. In reaching its conclusion, the court distinguished between regular hours worked in dairy production and the seasonal nature of agricultural crop production. In 2021, the legislature repealed a state law in effect since 1959 that exempted agricultural workers from overtime pay, effectively extending the DeRuyter decision to all production agriculture. With this historic legislation, Washington became among the first states in the nation to impose an overtime pay requirement for agricultural workers working more than 40 hours per week. Recognizing that such a change would be a sizeable shift in practice for all farmers and agricultural workers across the state, the legislature adopted a phased-in approach, but did not address the seasonal needs of Washington agriculture given the time-sensitive nature of growing and harvesting mature field crops and perishable fruits and vegetables.