California Gov. Jerry Brown expands overtime pay for California farmworkers
California Governor Jerry Brown
As the Los Angeles Times reports, California Governor Jerry Brown signed historic legislation Monday that would gradually require California farmworkers to the be paid overtime after eight hours on the job or 40 hours in a single week. The bill signing closed out one of the year’s most intense political battles in Sacramento.
Leaders of the United Farm Workers of America, which sponsored the overtime bill, called Brown’s decision a victory for farm workers. Growers lobbied heavily against the bill, saying the new law would hurt a valuable state industry on the decline.
Assembly Bill 1066 (see the text), authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), calls for a phase-in of new overtime rules over four years beginning in 2019.
KJ