ALBANY, Ore. — In 2022, the Oregon Legislature passed a landmark bill requiring overtime pay for farm workers. It gave employers a gradual ramp-up, so they won’t be paying overtime after a 40-hour week until 2027. But since the beginning of last year, farms have needed to pay time and a half when workers exceed 55 hours.
On a sweltering day in early July, the temperatures on a 12-acre blueberry farm just north of Albany had reached 85 degrees by 10 a.m. Eighty pickers were quickly and carefully plucking blueberries from the branches.
Many of the workers were regulars who live close to the farm. They come back year after year to work for Anne Krahmer-Steinkamp. This year, the farmer expects that her workers will make less money than they are used to — she’s sending them home after they hit 55 hours in a given week, so she doesn’t have to pay those overtime wages.
R&I~Smit
Anothermike