Fairness for Farm Workers Act
Bill: S.4480 | Sponsor: Sen. Padilla, Alex (D-CA)
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Fairness for Farm Workers Act
This bill extends overtime pay protections to agricultural workers.
The bill requires employers, beginning in 2023, to compensate agricultural workers for hours worked in excess of their regular hours (i.e., 55 hours in 2023, 50 hours in 2024, 45 hours in 2025, and 40 hours in 2026) at not less than one and one-half times the employee's regular rate. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, the overtime pay requirements begin in 2026. These overtime pay requirements do not apply, as under current law, to employees who are the parent, spouse, child, or other member of the employer's immediate family.
The bill also repeals the exemption from overtime pay requirements for employers in various agriculture-related industries, including certain small farms, irrigation projects, sugar processing, and cotton ginning and compressing.

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide increased 
labor law protections for agricultural workers, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fairness for Farm Workers Act''.

SEC. 2. REDRESSING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AGRICULTURAL WORKERS UNDER 
              THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.

    (a) Ending Discrimination With Respect to Overtime Hours 
Requirements.--Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 
U.S.C. 207) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), beginning 
        on January 1, 2023, no employer shall employ any employee 
        employed in agriculture (who in any workweek is engaged in 
        commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is 
        employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the 
        production of goods for commerce) for a workweek that is longer 
        than the hours specified under subparagraph (B), unless such 
        employee receives compensation for employment in excess of the 
        hours specified in such subparagraph at a rate not less than 
        one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee 
        is employed.
            ``(B) The hours specified in this subparagraph are, subject 
        to subparagraph (C), as follows:
                    ``(i) Beginning on January 1, 2023, fifty-five 
                hours in any workweek.
                    ``(ii) Beginning on January 1, 2024, fifty hours in 
                any workweek.
                    ``(iii) Beginning on January 1, 2025, forty-five 
                hours in any workweek.
                    ``(iv) Beginning on January 1, 2026, forty hours in 
                any workweek.
            ``(C) With respect to any employer that employs 25 or fewer 
        employees--
                    ``(i) the requirement under subparagraph (A) shall 
                begin on January 1, 2026; and
                    ``(ii) the hours specified under subparagraph (B) 
                shall apply as follows:
                            ``(I) The number of hours specified under 
                        subparagraph (B)(i) shall begin on January 1, 
                        2026.
                            ``(II) The number of hours specified under 
                        subparagraph (B)(ii) shall begin on January 1, 
                        2027.
                            ``(III) The number of hours specified under 
                        subparagraph (B)(iii) shall begin on January 1, 
                        2028.
                            ``(IV) The number of hours specified under 
                        subparagraph (B)(iv) shall begin on January 1, 
                        2029.''; and
            (2) by repealing subsection (m).
    (b) Removing Certain Exemptions for Agricultural Work.--Section 13 
of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking ``(A)'' and all that 
        follows through the semicolon and inserting ``if such employee 
        is the parent, spouse, child, or other member of the employer's 
        immediate family;'';
            (2) in subsection (b), by repealing paragraphs (12) through 
        (16); and
            (3) by striking subsections (h) through (j).
    (c) Effective Dates.--The amendments made by--
            (1) subsections (a)(2), (b)(1), (b)(3), and (d) shall take 
        effect--
                    (A) with respect to an employer that employs more 
                than 25 employees, on January 1, 2026; and
                    (B) with respect to an employer that employs 25 or 
                fewer employees, on January 1, 2029; and
            (2) subsection (b)(2) shall take effect--
                    (A) with respect to an employer that employs more 
                than 25 employees, on January 1, 2023; and
                    (B) with respect to an employer that employs 25 or 
                fewer employees, on January 1, 2026.
    (d) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Fair labor standards act of 1938.--Section 13(c)(1)(A) 
        of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
        213(c)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ``none of the employees'' 
        and all that follows through ``section 6(a)(5)'' and inserting 
        ``all of the employees of which are employed in agriculture and 
        are employed by an employer who did not, during any calendar 
        quarter during the preceding calendar year, use more than 500 
        man-days of agricultural labor (within the meaning of the 
        exemption under subsection (a)(6)(A), as in effect on the day 
        before the date of enactment of the Fairness for Farm Workers 
        Act)''.
            (2) Migrant and seasonal agricultural worker protection 
        act.--Section 4(a)(2) of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural 
        Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1803(a)(2)) is amended by 
        striking ``for whom the man-days exemption'' and all that 
        follows through the period and inserting ``who did not, during 
        any calendar quarter during the preceding calendar year, use 
        more than 500 man-days of agricultural labor (within the 
        meaning of the exemption under section 13(a)(6)(A) of the Fair 
        Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(6)(A)), as in 
        effect on the day before the date of enactment of the Fairness 
        for Farm Workers Act).''.
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