Farmers: Make Your Voices Heard
As part of the 2019 New York Farm Laborer Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA), The NYS Commissioner of Labor is convening a Wage Board to hear stakeholder input about the weekly hours threshold at which farm laborer overtime pay begins. The threshold is currently set at 60 hours per week for 2020 but the Wage Board can make a recommendation to keep it the same or lower it to somewhere between 40 and 60 hours. It is important for farm owners, managers, and employees to make their voices heard about any potential changes. Click on the Overtime Hearing Announcement Bilingual for information about the Wage Board Hearings in Spanish.
Register here in English and here in Spanish. If you cannot attend a hearing but still want to be heard you can submit written testimony via email at this address: wageboard@labor.ny.gov
Virtual hearing dates:
- Wednesday, August 26 at 6 p.m.
- Thursday, August 27 at 12 noon
- Monday, August 31 at 12 noon
New York Farm Bureau has some good resources to help you prepare your testimony. Read a NYFB prepared document to help you organize your thoughts and virtual testimony. If you invite your employees to participate, review these do’s and don’ts when discussing this with them.
Thanks to the Ag Workforce Journal for providing much of the information in this post.
