California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed overtime pay and mandatory days off for agricultural workers. Concerns over the safety of workers prompted the bill. This year alone, California is scrutinizing six potential heat-related employment fatalities.
Specifically, the bill, written by Sen. Dean Florez (D-California), would have required overtime pay to agricultural workers working more than eight hours a day, a decrease from the current ten hour requirement. The new law would also have given workers a mandatory day off if an employee worked more than six consecutive days.
Proponents of the bill claim that risk of injuries rise when workers are forced to work extended periods. They argue that because of the physical and labor intensive requirements of farm workers, they should actually be entitled to more protection.
However, Gov. Schwarzenegger disagrees. In his veto message, the governor claims that, "while well-intended, [the bill] will not improve the lives of California's agricultural workers." Instead, he argues, the bill would cost jobs because agribusinesses would suffer an economic disadvantage and thus relocate out of state.
The Gov. understands the reasoning behind the bill, however, and states that his administration "has made great strides to improve the lives of agricultural workers."
In 2005, California implemented the country's first heat-illness standard. The law requires farms and contractors provide workers with plenty of water and breaks, make shade available and implement emergency response measures. More stringent amendments to the law, due to take affect this fall, will require employers to provide shade, in the form of vines or trees instead of tarps, for a quarter of their outside crews if the temperature hits 85 degrees.
However, bill advocates say that Schwarzenegger's arguments do not hold weight. They claim the flight risk for agribusinesses is almost nonexistent due to the permanency of land location. Also, they argue overtime laws are enforced for non-agricultural employers with the ability to relocate to other climates, so the state should enforce similar requirements for agribusinesses.
The bill would have made California the only state in the nation to implement daily overtime pay requirements after eight hours for agricultural workers. Currently, only three states in the country require overtime pay but only after a weekly hourly limit.
