Dairy-farm workers have a right to overtime pay, the highest court in the state of Washington said in a ruling that makes it the sixth state where agricultural workers are eligible for time-and-a-half benefits.
The state’s Supreme Court rejected farm operators’ attempt to fight the workplace protections. They’d argued that additional costs associated with overtime pay would cripple their businesses.
“The extremely dangerous nature of dairy work entitles dairy workers to the statutory protection,” the state high court’s five-member majority said in a ruling, issued Thursday. The court held the state lacked a “reasonable ground” for excluding the workers from ...