Washington state lawmakers heard public testimony Thursday over a bill that would allow employers to choose up to 12 weeks each year when farm workers could work up to 50 hours without getting paid overtime wages. The proposed legislation comes weeks after SB 5172, passed in 2021, began to phase in. SB 5172 made farmworkers, who have historically been excluded from overtime pay regulations, eligible for overtime pay. Beginning in January 2022 farm workers started collecting overtime for any hours worked past 55 in a week. That's down to 48 hours this year and drops to 40 hours next year. Around 2,000 people joined the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee public hearing virtually and in person Thursday morning to voice their support or opposition to Senate Bill 5476. SB 5476, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Young, R-Yakima, and others, would allow agricultural employers to designate 12 weeks a year as special circumstance weeks during which they wouldn’t have to pay workers overtime until they worked more than 50 hours in a workweek. In the proposed legislation, the employer would have to estimate the selected 12 weeks at least 30 days in advance. “What we're asking for here is at the low end of what you see in all of these other states, I think it's a fair and equitable thing to do, not only for the farmer but also for the worker as well,” said Young. Farmers and organizations in support of the bill argued that as Washington state law stands now, it puts a strain on their businesses because they would have to hire more workers because they can’t afford to pay overtime while capping current employees’ hours at 40 hours a week. READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/state-politics/proposed-bill-limit-overtime-pay-farmworkers-washington-state/281-c80fe366-49cd-4813-97aa-296068b22e18