New York’s Farm Laborer Wage Board Recommends Retaining 60-hour Overtime Threshold
The year 2020 was certainly eventful for the agricultural workforce, and the drama extended until late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve. The New York Farm Labor Wage Board was created and charged by the 2019 Farm Laborer Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA) to consider the overtime threshold of 60 hours and make a recommendation about whether the threshold should be lowered. In-person hearings were scheduled early in 2020 but only one event took place before the COVID-19 pandemic obliterated such events. Farm managers and employees were dramatically engaged as essential workers providing needed food supplies throughout the pandemic, nevertheless, they showed up in huge numbers to testify during virtual Wage Board hearings in August and September. The Wage Board continued its deliberations with December hearings that included very unusual, last-minute schedulings and postponements. Finally on December 31, 2020 at 4:00 PM, only hours before the deadline, the board met to render a decision. Chairperson Brenda McDuffie offered a motion to retain the 60-hour overtime threshold for 2021 and to reconvene a Wage Board near the end of 2021 to consider further action. Her motion was based on the extreme uncertainly and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the agricultural industry. NY Farm Bureau President David Fisher seconded the motion. Former AFL-CIO union president, Denis Hughes, offered a different motion that would include a two-year freeze on the current 60-hour threshold, followed by an 8-year incremental decrease of the threshold until it reach 40 hours per week, this motion died for lack of a second. Ultimately, McDuffie and Fisher voted as the majority to pass the recommendation to retain the 60-hour threshold for 2021, to let the industry get through the pandemic, and to revisit the issue with more data and input during November and December of 2021.
New York Minimum Wage Increased On Schedule
Employers should adjust wages to reflect required minimum wage increases that took place effective at 12:00 AM on December 31, 2020. Minimum wages in New York City were already at $15/hour and did not increase, for Long Island and Westchester the minimum wage increased to $14/hour, for the remainder of upstate New York the minimum wage increased to $12.50/hour. See the NYS Department of Labor’s website for more information about this issue. Long Island and Westchester minimum wage is scheduled to reach $15/hour next year while the remainder of upstate will be notified about increases by the NYS Commissioner of Labor by October 1, 2021 and each year thereafter.
Upcoming Educational Programs
January 11, 2021: Becker Forum Address a Dynamic Labor Situation
January 27, 2021: Cornell launches online supervisory leadership series with: Transitioning to Supervisor Course
_________________________________________________________________________________
By Richard Stup, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution.
The post Farm Wage News for New York appeared first in The Ag Workforce Journal
