New California Overtime Laws for AG Workers

California, Employment Law & HR Topics, Wage & Hour / By

As of January 1, 2019, recent state legislation has changed overtime eligibility for California workers in the agricultural industry. Under the former Wage Law Order No. 14, agricultural laborers receive overtime rates after 10 hours in a day or after 6 days in a workweek.

The new bill, known as AB 1066 or the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, introduces new overtime laws over a period of 4 years and will make agricultural employees eligible for overtime after working more than 8 hours in one day and after 40 hours in a work week by the year 2022.

Phase-In Schedule  Businesses with 26 or more employees begin the new overtime laws on January 1, 2019, while smaller business with 25 or less employees have a 3-year extension to the phase-in process. *Employers with 25 or less employees add 3 years to the listed date.  Seventh Consecutive Day in a Workweek Overtime Laws  In addition to the laws above, the overtime laws for the seventh consecutive day in a 7-day workweek still apply.
  • Agriculture employees are entitled to 1.5x overtime rate for the first 8 hours worked on the seventh consecutive day.
  • Additionally, all hours worked over 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day are entitled to 2x overtime rate.