Bill addressing overtime retroactive pay gets hearing

Fransisca Vander Meulen immigrated from the Netherlands to the United States so she and her family can pursue the American dream.

But Vander Meulen, a dairy farmer in eastern Washington, said her family would not have moved to the U.S. had it known they would be up against lawsuits.

“How can you expect to be punished for not having broken the law?” Vander Meulen said Thursday during a virtual legislative hearing.

Vander Meulen said her farm is currently facing three lawsuits on retroactive overtime pay. She is just one of the many farm owners in the state who testified in support of Senate Bill 5172 during the hearing.

SB 5172 would prevent courts from granting retroactive pay in overtime wages when it causes an inequitable result, according to the bill’s text. An inequitable result occurs when there is a new interpretation of a law that has been previously expressed in a statute.

The legislation stemmed from a Washington Supreme Court decision on Nov. 5, 2020, which overturned the law that exempts agricultural workers from overtime pay, according to the bill’s text.

The case was between two dairy workers and a dairy farmer, according to the bill’s text. The decision did not address whether employers must pay retroactive overtime pay before the date of the ruling.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, is the primary sponsor of SB 5172. Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, is also co-sponsoring the bill.

King said during the virtual legislative hearing dairy farmers have operated — for the past three years — under the interpretation of state law regarding overtime pay. SB 5172 is a “matter of fairness.”

“(The farmers) did everything that they knew they were supposed to do,” King said. “They did it fairly, correctly and honestly.”

Andrea Schmitt, attorney at Columbia Legal Services, testified against SB 5172 during the virtual legislative hearing. She is one of the attorneys who represented the dairy workers in the Supreme Court case.

Schmitt said the issues raised by the bill will be addressed in an ongoing court case.

“We should let the courts do their job,” Schmitt said.

Regarding the concept of fairness, Schmitt said it is unconstitutional for agricultural workers to be exempt from overtime pay. The exemptions granted special privileges to agricultural industries for more than 60 years.

“This unconstitutional exemption saved the industry millions of dollars in wages,” Schmitt said. “Farmworker families and communities were deprived of those same millions of dollars for generations.”

Schoesler said in an interview with the Herald he has constituents who would face financial ruin from lawsuits on retroactive overtime pay, which is the reason he supports SB 5172.

“I think that is as good a reason as any,” Schoesler said.

Scott Dilley, communication director for the Washington State Dairy Federation, testified in support of SB 5172 during the virtual legislative hearing. He said the WSDF advised dairy farmers to adhere to paying overtime since the Supreme Court decision.

“This bill does not overturn the court’s ruling,” Dilley said.

Dilley said at least 25 lawsuits on retroactive overtime pay have been filed against farmers in the past month — pay that was “not owed” in the first place. Dairy farmers could lose about $90 to $120 million.

Elizabeth Strater, director of alternative organizing for the United Farm Workers, testified against SB 5172 during the hearing. She said labor laws fail at protecting farmworkers if retroactive wages could total $120 million.

“That’s a lot of money withheld from workers ... less likely to have stable housing or health care,” Strater said.

Senators had not voted on SB 5172 as of Sunday.