Sponsors (15)
The bill extends overtime and other wage protections to more farmworkers, improving pay and legal coverage, but imposes higher labor costs and compliance burdens that may squeeze small and family farms, reduce some employment, and raise consumer prices.
Farm workers (including many low-income and immigrant workers) will receive time-and-a-half overtime pay for hours worked beyond new weekly thresholds, increasing earnings for overtime work.
More agricultural workers gain wage-and-hour protections because several agricultural exemptions are removed and the 500 man-day MSPA threshold is clarified, bringing more operations under FLSA/MSPA coverage.
Immediate-family-only narrowing of the family-employer exemption reduces scope for unpaid or underpaid familial labor on farms, increasing labor justice for workers previously excluded.
Small and large farms will face higher labor costs from expanded overtime obligations, which could raise consumer food prices or reduce farm profitability.
Some small farms may cut hours, limit hiring, or accelerate mechanization to manage higher labor costs, potentially reducing employment opportunities for agricultural workers.
Family-run operations that previously relied on broader family exemptions may face retroactive liability or back-pay obligations and will need to change staffing, disrupting some family businesses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Phases in FLSA overtime (time-and-a-half) for many agricultural employees, removes several farm exemptions, and narrows family-employer exemptions on a staged schedule by employer size.
Provides phased-in overtime protections for agricultural employees by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act so many farm workers get time-and-a-half pay after a specified workweek. The bill removes several longstanding agricultural exemptions and narrows a family-employer exemption, with staged compliance dates that depend on employer size. Larger agricultural employers begin overtime obligations earlier (starting January 1, 2027) and reach a 40-hour overtime threshold by January 1, 2030; smaller employers get later start and phase-in dates (beginning obligations January 1, 2030 and reaching a 40-hour threshold by January 1, 2033). The measure also makes conforming statutory changes to related FLSA cross-references and a man-day threshold provision.
Official title: To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide increased labor law protections for agricultural workers, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 3, 2026 by Adelita S. Grijalva · Last progress September 3, 2026