Case: Wage & Hour/Overtime (Wash.)

The Supreme Court of Washington state ruled that dairy-farm workers have a right to overtime pay, finding that a provision in a state law exempting agricultural workers from the overtime pay requirement set out in the Washington Minimum Wage Act violates the state constitution. Article II, section 35 of the state constitution provides the dairy workers the fundamental right to health and safety protections of the Minimum Wage Act, the state high court said, and the overtime exemption for agricultural workers therefore implicates a fundamental right and grants a privilege or immunity to agricultural employers. The court held that the ...