WA Supreme Court grants overtime protections to dairy workers

In a split decision, the Washington Supreme Court recently ruled dairy employees are entitled to overtime pay under state law if they work more than 40 hours a week. The 5-4 ruling nullified an exemption to the Washington Minimum Wage Act’s (MWA) overtime requirement as applied to dairy and other agricultural workers. The court found the state’s constitution created a fundamental right to health and safety protections for dairy workers and that the legislature lacked reasonable grounds to grant their employers a privilege or immunity from providing the overtime pay. The court narrowly couched its ruling to apply to dairy workers, but the same reasoning may extend to other agricultural employees who work in similarly hazardous conditions.

Facts

The case began as a class action filed by several individuals on behalf of 300 dairy workers who labored as milkers for DeRuyter Brothers Dairy. The employees used mechanized equipment to milk almost 3,000 cows per shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and typically worked more than 40 hours per week without receiving overtime pay.

The workers alleged the dairy failed to (1) pay the minimum wage, (2) provide adequate rest and meal breaks, (3) compensate them for duties performed before and after their shifts, or (4) pay overtime. The parties ultimately reached a class settlement resolving all but the overtime pay claims. At issue before the court was whether the overtime exemption, as applied to dairy workers, violated the state constitution’s privileges and immunities clause or equal protection clause.