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Lawmakers, advocates split over bill to extend wage and overtime protections to farmworkers
Summary
Supporters told the Joint Committee on Revenue that Senate bills S.2011 and S.2012 and companion House measures would raise the minimum wage and provide overtime, paid breaks and paid time off for agricultural laborers; farm-industry witnesses warned mandated overtime and break requirements could be unaffordable for many Massachusetts farms.
State Sen. Adam Gomez and a coalition of legal, labor and health advocates urged the Joint Committee on Revenue on Monday to report favorably on a package of bills (S.2011, S.2012, H.3107) collectively called the Fairness for Farm Workers Act, saying the measures would extend minimum-wage, overtime and other workplace protections to farm laborers long excluded from state law.
The bills would raise the base pay for covered agricultural workers (S.2012/H.3107) toward parity with the state minimum wage and create overtime triggers for primary agricultural work at 55 hours per week and for secondary agricultural tasks at 40 hours per week (S.2011). Supporters said refundable tax credits for employers in the bills would help farms absorb higher labor costs.
The measures, supporters said, are a corrective to centuries-old legal exclusions. “For nearly…
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