DENVER – On Thursday, the nonprofit law group Towards Justice held a news conference in partnership with Latino community leaders to share concerns over a possible bill that would increase the number of hours agricultural workers would need to work to become eligible for overtime pay.
The bill has not been introduced yet, but would increase the overtime threshold for farm workers to 60 hours per week. Right now, farm workers must work 48 hours a week or more than 12 hours a day to qualify for overtime pay.
“We moved toward getting farm workers the protections they deserve with the 2021 bill," explained Polly Baca, former Colorado state legislator and civil rights leader, whose parents were farm workers. "Now, lawmakers face a clear choice: support this progress and stand with farm worker families and Latino communities, or send the message that their health, time, and families are less important than profit. We urge lawmakers to reject any proposed bill that would require farm workers to work 60 hours before earning overtime — which is 20 hours more than regular workers."
The Farmworker Bill of Rights required the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to create overtime standards for farm workers. Advocates said, however, that several Colorado lawmakers are considering introducing a bill that will undermine this progress.
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Colorado agriculture leaders have reported many challenges in the farming industry including changing labor laws.
“According to the U.S. Census of Agriculture between 2017 and 2022, we lost 7.2% of our farms or over 2,800 — that’s huge,” Marilyn Bay, executive director of the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said. “Some of it is the next generation doesn’t want to take over the farm — it’s too hard for too little profit. But in our state, there’s been a huge number of regulations and new laws that are just really hard and expensive to keep up with, the labor law being the main one that was passed in 2021.”
But agriculture advocates said this is about worker protections, and they want farm workers to be treated just like workers in other industries who have a lower hour per week threshold to qualify for overtime.
