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California Just Passed A $1 Billion Tax On The Whole Country That No One Noticed

LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Could be really expensive...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-01/california-just-passed-1bn-tax-whole-country-no-one-noticed

The California State Assembly recently passed a bill that received minimal recognition by the press, outside of the state, but has substantial negative consequences for basically everyone in the country. Once signed by Jerry Brown, the bill, known as AB 1066, will make California the only state in the entire country to provide overtime wages to ag workers after 8 hours a day or 40 hours per week.
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Now, we know what you're thinking...why would everyone be entitled to overtime pay at 40 hours per week except farm workers? Well, there is logic behind the exclusion and it has to do with the seasonality of farming. Unlike most industries, farmers are not able to spread their labor needs throughout the year due to harvest schedules and the perishable nature of their crops. But farm workers aren't the only ones excluded from overtime pay. In fact, California has established special overtime rules for hourly workers in a number of other highly-seasonal sectors, including firefighters, actors and ski-resort employees, to name a few.
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Sure, but stuff from Cali will now cost more, and fewer people will buy whenever there is an alternative.

And, there was a good reason for the overtime rules in the ag industry.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Could be really expensive..
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Where oh where will I come up with that 0.85 cents a day! Good thing it is phased in so that I have plenty of time to budget for this!

(Less if you consider that not all California food stays in the US).
 
Farmers are not going pay overtime, though. They are going to cut hours. So the ag workers will get paid less, not more.

Any farmer that pays overtime will have to increase the price of his products, so less of it will be sold.
 
OT for over 40 hours is fine but I disagree with over 8. There's no reason why farm workers shouldn't be allowed schedule flexibility like anyone else and do 4x10s or whatever. Since work is presumably limited to daylight hours that means you're going to need 1.5 shifts most days so you're going to have a bunch of farmhands that get shitty shifts like 6 hours daily except Sunday when they get 4.
 
Sonikku said:
Damn Cali's giving overtime to people working over 40 hours!!
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Not sure why people think it's that simple.

I guess making a joke somehow solves the farmer's problems of dealing with overtime in the industry and dealing with workers paid by the piece?

It's a federal exemption going way back, and the explanations for it are not as simple as making jokes.

Besides, many categories of worker are not under the overtime rules, for various reasons.
 
glenn1 said:
OT for over 40 hours is fine but I disagree with over 8. There's no reason why farm workers shouldn't be allowed schedule flexibility like anyone else and do 4x10s or whatever. Since work is presumably limited to daylight hours that means you're going to need 1.5 shifts most days so you're going to have a bunch of farmhands that get shitty shifts like 6 hours daily except Sunday when they get 4.
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Agree 1000%, though I suspect they are setting it to 8 because farmhands may not have access to clean drinking water or clean bathrooms during their work, and there is a history of abuses of migrant workers being pushed to work sunup to sundown.

I'm sure this won't "stop" all the abuse, but it should help quite a bit.
 
Although many places in CA can actually grow year around. So the idea that it is seasonal only doesn't hold up entirely.
 
BudAshes said:
Although many places in CA can actually grow year around. So the idea that it is seasonal only doesn't hold up entirely.
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The rules already covered that, I believe. If the ag work was year round, you already had to pay overtime under federal law. It was only the seasonal work that was exempt.
 
LTC8K6 said:
The rules already covered that, I believe. If the ag work was year round, you already had to pay overtime under federal law. It was only the seasonal work that was exempt.
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So a pretty small subset of the actual product being grown in Cali?
 
glenn1 said:
OT for over 40 hours is fine but I disagree with over 8. There's no reason why farm workers shouldn't be allowed schedule flexibility like anyone else and do 4x10s or whatever. Since work is presumably limited to daylight hours that means you're going to need 1.5 shifts most days so you're going to have a bunch of farmhands that get shitty shifts like 6 hours daily except Sunday when they get 4.
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please stop commenting on thing you know nothing about.
 
Homerboy said:
So a pretty small subset of the actual product being grown in Cali?
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I don't know. It may be that year round growing is actually two or three different crops, making the work seasonal, even though the overall farm runs year round.
 
The compassion for these workers who work out in the sun in 95 degree weather is just astounding.

Do you know that California had to pass a regulation that allowed farm workers access to water. Then they had to revise it to make sure that the water was clean and cool? They also had to revise how much shade they are allowed to have on their breaks.

Think of that while you are sitting behind your desk in your air conditioned office sipping your diet coke debating the working conditions these people are allowed.

I will now get off my soapbox.
 
LTC8K6 said:
The rules already covered that, I believe. If the ag work was year round, you already had to pay overtime under federal law. It was only the seasonal work that was exempt.
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Ah ok. Well the biggest seasonal crop in CA is Marijuana. Not sure there is much regulation going on there yet though in Nor-Cal. I know a lot of people are still just paid in cash under the table.
 
IronWing said:
Good. The cost was always there, it was just carried by the workers instead of by the consumers.
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And now it will be carried by the workers and the farmers, cause the grocery stores etc aren't going to offer to pay them any more money. The larger farms will be able to cope with the changes because of scale but the family farmer is hurt yet again...

/not disagreeing that they should get overtime
 
Oh, shit. Now my lettuce is going to cost $1.04 instead of 99 cents. Those bastards. Who do I write to complain about this?
 
Good. I can't believe seasonal workers were exempted from OT in the first place. I've done AG work (picking melons in my early 20s; they have to be harvested fast so farmers are actually willing to pay decent wages) and anybody that can physically do more than 40 hours a week is a beast. Hard fucking work. Definitely up there with moving and demolition as far as the most physically demanding work I've done.

OutHouse said:
whats next crabbers getting paid per hour? lol
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Yeah, we were paid by the crate. I doubt anybody gets paid a flat rate per hour for this type of work.
 
glenn1 said:
OT for over 40 hours is fine but I disagree with over 8. There's no reason why farm workers shouldn't be allowed schedule flexibility like anyone else and do 4x10s or whatever. Since work is presumably limited to daylight hours that means you're going to need 1.5 shifts most days so you're going to have a bunch of farmhands that get shitty shifts like 6 hours daily except Sunday when they get 4.
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Most working people in CA are already covered by the "OT after 8 hours/day or 40 hours per week" law. It's been that way for decades. (There are some exceptions to that...certain industries, not just ag workers) There have always been some provisions for 4x10 shifts...

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_overtime.htm

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_OvertimeExceptions.htm

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_OvertimeExemptions.htm
 
I'm fine with this. Let's give the farm workers proper wages, insurance, and benefits and stop subsidies. I'd like to see the real cost of food, fuel, etc.
 
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