The State Assembly has passed a bill and sent it to Gov. Brown that would require farm workers be paid overtime scale.The higher wages would be for hours beyond eight in a day and forty in a week. Those in favor say it’s only fair to treat agriculture like other industries but opponents say farm contractors will just give hours to more workers and no one will be paid extra. There could be a lessening of a worker’s overall pay if there’s an abundance of laborers but when they’re in short supply, those putting in extra hours could do well according to independent analysis.

Sean Michael Lisle