Starting Sunday July 25th, dairy workers in Washington will start to receive overtime once they work more than 40 hours in a week. Jeff Mayor with Washington Labor & Industries said this is due to the legislature passing Senate Bill 5172 this session, which was a response made to a Supreme Court ruling in late 2020.

"In the DeRuyter case that came out last November which granted overtime rights to the plaintiffs in that case. The legislature decided to grant overtime to all dairy workers.”

Mayor noted with the new law, workers should be aware if employers don't comply with the overtime pay requirements, they have a right to file a complaint with L&I.

"They can do so on our website L&I.wa.gov The department investigates all the complaints that we receive.”

While overtime pay for dairy workers starts this month, overtime requirements for the rest of Washington’s Ag economy do not start until January 1st. Employees that would like to file a complaint can do so by visiting L&I's Website.

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