Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay overtime wages to an employee who works in excess of a workday or workweek. Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations and provides that one of its functions is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.

Existing law establishes specific labor protections for sheepherders and goat herders, as defined, relating to wages, meal and rest periods, lodging, and other conditions of employment. Existing law imposes civil penalties, as prescribed, for violations of these provisions.

Existing law, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, establishes a schedule that phases in overtime requirements for persons employed in an agricultural occupation, as defined. The act, beginning January 1, 2022, among other things, requires that any work performed by a person employed in an agricultural occupation in excess of 12 hours per day be compensated at a rate of no less than twice the employee’s regular rate of pay. Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to update a specific wage order of the Industrial Welfare Commission governing agricultural occupations to be consistent with the act, except in specified circumstances in which the existing wage order offers greater protections. The act defines the term “employed in an agricultural occupation” for these purposes as having the same meaning as in that wage order.

For purposes of the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, this bill would create an exception from the above-described definition for sheepherders or goat herders, as defined in that order.