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Large agricultural interests trying to stop farmworkers from getting overtime pay

Aug 16, 2021 1:11 pm

Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that large agricultural corporations continue to push to keep treating farm workers different from other employees in the state. Most employees in the United States get overtime pay after working 40 hours in a week, but not those picking fruit or harvesting vegetables. "While proponents of a 40-hour workweek claim to fight for the workers, farmworkers will be the ones to lose out as their hours will surely be cut or jobs could be eliminated. Please visit a farm to learn more," said Eric Ooms, a dairy farmer and a New York Farm Bureau vice president. "Keeping the overtime threshold at 60 hours is the only option for New York’s diverse agricultural community and its employees.” Reisman fails to quote anyone representing workers who are being denied overtime pay, or any of New York's 24,000 farmworkers. A coalition of large agricultural interests known as Grow NY Farms, is pushing to keep the 60-hour overtime threshold in place as a state wage board is assessing the overtime threshold for the industry. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

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