An ongoing march to pay farm workers more continues to unfold in the state of New York as agriculture labor regulations have drastically changed over the last few years. Beginning in January 2020, The New York State’s Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act established that all farm workers must be paid one-and-a-half times the regular rates of pay for any hours worked over 60 hours in a calendar week.
Recently the New York State Department of Labor stated they have found that a Lewis County New York dairy farm failed to pay its workers the overtime wages they were owed for nearly two years. This resulted in a settlement including two dairy farm workers receiving nearly $150,000 in back wages.
New York is nationally ranked for milk production with nearly 3,000 dairy farms that produce more than 15 billion pounds of milk annually.
Tonya Van Slyke, the executive director for the Northeast Dairy Producers Association (NEDPA), says she doesn’t personally know the accused Lewis County dairy farmers and cannot speak on their behalf, but shares that it is difficult for dairies to keep up with the fast-paced and ongoing labor regulations being rolled out in New York.
“Minimum wage is going up and the overtime threshold is ratcheting down at the same time. This causes our labor costs to increase exponentially,” she shares. “In addition, with some ag labor becoming unionized in New York, it is hard for dairies to keep up with all the labor regulations changes that are unfolding.”
The Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act also gave power to agricultural and farm workers, giving them the right to collectively bargain; granting workers’ compensation as well as unemployment benefits.
According to Van Slyke this is concerning.
“It’s not that we don’t want to continue to pay more wages, but dairy farmers are price takers. The Federal Milk Market Order controls what producers get paid for their milk. So as milk prices are heading down and labor prices are heading up, that’s a concern.”
The concern isn’t about New York farmers paying their employees more money, Van Slykes says it is questioning the affordability of it.
“We’re at such a competitive disadvantage with everyone around us having a higher minimum wage and overtime ratcheting down,” Van Slyke shares. “Let me be clear, farmers care about their employees and they deserve to be paid well and they deserve to be compensated for the time they work. They’re critical to our farms, but we just need to make sure that we don’t price farms out of business.”
Determined in 2022, the overtime threshold was lowered to 40 hours per week over a 10-year phase-in period, that begins in 2024. The gradual reduction in the overtime pay threshold will begin on January 1, 2024, with the threshold decreasing from 60 to 56 hours. The process will continue with the overtime threshold limit reducing by four hours every other year until reaching 40 hours in 2032.
One Corfu, New York dairy farmer, Kelly Reynolds, says, “When people who have never milked a cow or picked an apple or hired a farm employee are deciding the future of agriculture in our state, it’s a scary thing.”
A new tax credit was created with the 2022-23 Budget Act, that is intended to help cover the cost of overtime for farm employers. The tax credit applies to the hours of overtime worked between the overtime threshold at the time and a 60-hour cap. For example, in 2024 when the overtime threshold is 56 hours and an employee works 60 hours, those four extra hours are eligible for the tax credit. After January 2024, if an employee works over 60 hours, those hours worked over 60 are not eligible for the tax credit.
“I think there is confusion going on amongst all the labor regulations in New York, whether it’s from farm owners to farm workers,” Van Slyke adds.
For more information about New York labor legal laws, go to: New York FLFLPA Labor Law Changes | Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development
