Colorado bill would roll back farmworker overtime
A new Colorado proposal would raise the farmworker overtime threshold to 56 hours, effectively rolling back reforms enacted five years earlier and narrowing who would qualify for overtime pay. The bill reignites debates about agricultural labor protections and how technical changes can reduce worker coverage. (rmpbs.org)
Colorado lawmakers are advancing a bill that would make most farmworkers wait until 56 hours a week for overtime pay instead of 48. (leg.colorado.gov) Senate Bill 26-121 passed the Colorado Senate 19-16 on March 25 and cleared the House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee on April 6. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Senator Robert Rodriguez, Republican Senator Cleave Simpson, Democratic Representative Matthew Martinez and Republican Representative Ty Winter. (leg.colorado.gov) (gazette.com) The current rule took full effect on January 1, 2025: farmworkers get overtime after 48 hours a week, while highly seasonal employers can use a 56-hour threshold for up to 22 peak weeks. The new bill would set 56 hours as the statewide standard starting January 1, 2027. (leg.colorado.gov) (cdle.colorado.gov) Colorado created those overtime rights in 2021, when Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 21-087, the Farmworker Bill of Rights. That law also added meal breaks, rest periods, access to water and shade, and retaliation protections. (rmpbs.org) The 2026 bill would also move overtime rules out of the state labor department’s rulemaking process and write the 56-hour threshold directly into statute. Its listed exceptions cover range livestock workers, decision-making managers and family members of a family owner. (leg.colorado.gov 1) (leg.colorado.gov 2) Supporters say the 48-hour rule raised labor costs for farms that already operate on thin margins. Western Growers Association said many operations saw the overtime trigger drop last year and described Senate Bill 26-121 as a reset to a higher threshold. (wga.com) Worker advocates say the bill would cut pay for people who only recently gained overtime rights. Hunter Knapp of Project Protect Food Systems Workers told Rocky Mountain PBS the proposal is “a rollback of critical overtime protection” adopted five years ago. (rmpbs.org) The fight sits on top of a longer exclusion in labor law. Rocky Mountain PBS reported that farmworkers were left out of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, while most other hourly workers became eligible for time-and-a-half after 40 hours. (rmpbs.org) Project Protect Food Systems Workers told Rocky Mountain PBS that, in a 2024 survey of 587 Colorado farmworkers, about one-third said they worked more than 56 hours a week. The group said about 40 percent reported receiving overtime pay, while 15 percent said they sometimes or never got overtime even when they worked those hours. (rmpbs.org) If the bill passes the House and reaches Polis, Colorado would keep farmworker overtime on the books but narrow when it starts. The argument at the Capitol is now over eight hours a week that can decide whether a long harvest shift counts as overtime or ordinary pay. (leg.colorado.gov) (rmpbs.org)
