CALIFORNIA FARM OVERTIME RULES

For every hour past their eighth of work in a day California farm workers are now entitled to overtime pay at one and a half times their normal rate of pay. What does this mean?

• A farm worker who worked an 8.75 day in a day is owed .75 hours of overtime pay at one and a half their normal hourly rate

• Farm laborers who worked only 38 hours in a week are still owed 1 hour of overtime if they worked one 9 hour shift

• Farm workers who were told to work off-the-clock and ended up working more than 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in a day are owed overtime

• Farm workers who worked more than forty hours in a week are owed overtime

• Farm and field workers who worked more than 12 hours in a day are owed overtime

• Farm and field hands who worked more than 60 hours in a week are owed overtime

• Farm workers without proper papers to work may still collect overtime

• The previous law that required farm workers to work 60 hours a week in order to get overtime was repealed in September of 2016!

• Farm workers who are paid piece rates are also entitled to overtime based upon their piece rates which must be minimum wage or higher.

If you are a piece rate worker such as somebody who is paid by the barrel, pound, or for how many strawberries or heads of lettuce you pick we advise you consult with an experienced overtime attorney to determine if you are properly paid piece rates, and properly paid overtime for your piece work. In addition, piece rates not properly reflected on your pay stubs lead to California Labor Code Section 226 violations. Failure for employers to properly reflect piece rates on employee pay stubs lead to paystub violations which entitle employees to a $100.00 penalty for each errant paystub.

Farm workers, like other California employees, are considered nonexempt and are entitled to overtime if they do not regularly manage 2 or more full-time employees more than 50% of the time and earn twice minimum wage for every hour they work. Labor violations may exist if a farm worker classified as a supervisor is paid a piece rate which generally is twice minimum wage but falls below that figure for some of the hours they work.

Farm workers such as pickers, egg handlers, tractor drivers, loaders, packers, seed sorters, feeders, and animal groomers are usually entitled to overtime. Seed engineers with advanced degrees may not be entitled to overtime if they are primarily engaged in genetic experiments they use their independent discretion to conduct.

Foremen who supervise a crew of 4 or more full-time farm workers and spend considerable time hiring, firing, supervising, in management meetings, or using independent discretion are not likely to be entitled to overtime if they earn twice minimum wage. Technically, supervisors of two or more full-time employees who spend more than half their time supervising are exempt if they earn twice minimum wage.

We have represented many supervisors and managers who either did not earn twice minimum wage, did not regularly supervise two or more full-time employees, or did not regularly use independent discretion to do their jobs. If you fall into those categories you may be entitled to overtime pay.

Contact a Winning California Overtime Lawyer at 1-877-525-0700 if you think you are owed overtime

OVERTIME PAY RULES

We recommend running your potential work overtime violations by one of our experienced overtime lawyers, but generally several principles govern California overtime for all California employees:

• Overtime is due to persons primarily performing manual labor

• Overtime is not due to supervisors and managers regularly supervising or managing two or more full-time persons if they are paid twice minimum wage

• Overtime is not likely to be due to an employee in a primarily intellectual profession in which they make independent decisions and use independent discretion

• California overtime is based upon the daily work day, but also comes into effect if an employee works more than 40 hours in a week. For example, an employee who works five hour days five times in a week and one nine hour day is entitled to one hour of overtime pay for the week because they worked a nine hour day, and overtime is due after the eighth hour of work

• Employers must pay double time if the employee works more than 12 hours in a day

• Overemphasis should not be given on whether an employee is referred to as a blue or white collar worker. Clerical employees may wear a white collar but be entitled to overtime. Foremen of machine shops who regularly supervise 20 employees may wear a blue collar, but not be entitled to overtime.

Some generalizations can be made about which jobs are likely to receive overtime and which are not.

CALIFORNIA OVERTIME LAW

California labor laws are found in the California Labor Code and California Code of Regulations. To the extent a California labor law does not cover an issue, it is permissible to look at the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Federal Laws on Overtime. There are so many California labor laws on overtime as well as California and Federal interpretations that it is ill advised for employees to, on their own, make determinations whether they are entitled to overtime and how much they are owed. We highly recommend calling 1-877-525-0700 to find out if you have an overtime case, and whether it is large enough for our firm to individually take, or whether we will take the case if it involves a group of employees, or is done as an overtime class action. Even if it we are not able to take the overtime case we may be able to advise you to call the proper Department of Labor, or refer your case to a smaller firm who will take your case.

Besides overtime laws requiring certain classes of employees to be paid overtime, there are legal rights protecting the jobs of employees who demand overtime wages. Many of our firm’s overtime cases involve wrongful terminations because an employee asked for overtime pay. Other cases involve employees quitting because they are not paid overtime. Employers who retaliate against employees who ask to be paid overtime may be required to pay punitive damages and/or a California Labor Code Section 1102.5 penalty. Employers who fire employees for making legitimate complaints about their entitlement to overtime engage in wrongful termination.

Our California overtime lawyers handle individual, multi-employee, Private Attorney General (PAGA), and class actions for employee overtime. Our firm founder, Karl Gerber, started handling overtime cases for employees in 1993. Our employee labor attorneys do not charge employees any money up front. We advance all court costs. Our win rate is high and we take our overtime cases seriously. We have handled more than 1,640 individual employee lawsuits and binding arbitrations against this state’s largest employers and law firms.

Although not a guarantee, nor prediction on your overtime case, we have obtained the following case results for overtime violations:

OVERTIME LAWSUITS CAN BE LARGE: CALL 1-877-525-0700 FOR A CALIFORNIA OVERTIME ATTORNEY

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