Washington Supreme Court Considers Paid Rest Breaks for Farm Workers

The Washington State Supreme court will hear arguments Tuesday on a case dealing with wages for farm workers. It examines how employers handle the paid rest breaks required by state law, as KUOW’s Liz Jones reports.

TRANSCRIPT

A lot of farm workers get paid by the pound. That is, the more apples or cherries or asparagus you pick in an hour, the more you get paid. It’s called piece rate pay, and it tends to reward faster workers.

Seattle attorney Dan Ford points to a problem with this model.

Ford: “We understand that a lot of workers skip breaks even if they are allowed by the employers because they need to work. And there’s a disincentive for workers to take breaks if they don’t get paid for that time.”

Ford represents several berry pickers who brought a lawsuit last year against Sakuma Brothers Farms, near Burlington. That’s mostly settled. But it kicked a question to the state’s high court.

Under the current model for piece rate workers, are they getting paid for rest breaks?

State law is clear that all adult workers are entitled to ten minutes of paid rest time for every four hours of work.

Ford argues piece rate workers are currently denied this 20 minutes of daily pay.

Dan Fazio is with the Washington Farm Labor Association. Its members are farm owners. He says this rest pay is already factored in to workers’ wages.

Fazio: “What the plaintiffs are proposing would do absolutely nothing to encourage people to take rest breaks because they’d still be getting paid that same amount.”

The court ruling on this regulation could allow workers to seek three years’ worth of break time back pay.

Fazio estimates workers could get a few hundred dollars each. But, he says, it would cost tree fruit growers in the state more than a hundred million dollars.

It’s unclear how soon the court will hand down a ruling.