On a warm afternoon last fall, farmworkers sat down for voluntary video interviews about farm work laws and working in agriculture. Each man held differing perspectives about their job, but a common theme emerged as they spoke: their lives had been changed by Washington’s approach to farmworkers.

In 2020 the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy that an exemption from overtime protections for dairy workers based on health and safety violated their rights. It ushered in an immediate switch to a mandated 40-hour workweek for dairy workers in our state. The following legislative session, the rest of agriculture was legislated into an overtime pay structure that required time and a half pay through a 3-year phased in approach. 2024 was the first year during which all ag employers were held to the 40-hour workweek standard.

Among the interviewees were business owners, semi-truck drivers, and licensed welders. All were family men looking forward to returning home to spend time with their loved ones before getting back to working their second jobs. They were all acutely aware of how the policy landscape had shaped their working conditions.

Yovany, 32, had been working in Washington for four years. At the end of each season, he returns home to his family and his car electronics business in Mexico. He said he was initially drawn to working in the U.S. by the pay and hours.

“The salary is better here. I can buy things I wouldn’t have been able to buy, like my house,” he said. “If I started working here now, I wouldn’t have been able to buy my house.”

Unlike the rest of the farmworkers interviewed, Luis, 20, began working in Washington after the overtime law was implemented. However, he, too, expressed concerns with the limitations it has put on his workdays.

“The law was in effect when I started working here,” he said. “I would like to work more hours than what’s being offered, though. If I can work somewhere else for more hours, I might do that. But working here where I already know the type of work I’m doing with more hours would probably be the best solution.”

Luis, who was married at 17, and has a 1-year-old son, is mindful that his wages support his family and the tire-selling business he runs in Mexico. As such, he suggested increasing the hours threshold for overtime.

“I think overtime should start at 55 hours,” he said. 

Farmworkers like Yovany and Luis were not part of the negotiations for the overtime law during the 2021 legislative session. Nor have their requests to be given their income back been heard in subsequent legislative sessions despite the best efforts of bills like House Bill 1750, Senate Bill 5476, House Bill 1523, and the current session’s House Bill 1597 and Senate Bill 5487, which were not even scheduled for a hearing.

If all legislators are genuinely interested in supporting people living and working in Washington state, then these interviews should serve as a gut check. All six of the men interviewed indicated a desire to see a significant change in how their workweeks are measured and compensated. Not from their employers but from lawmakers.

Guillermo, 62, perhaps summed up the words of his colleagues best: “I think people would be surprised to know that I’ve dedicated my life to working and trying to do good deeds,” he said. “We come here with the mentality that we want to work 50 plus hours per week.”