Sponsors (4)
The bill standardizes a higher federal maximum workweek for agricultural workers to reduce employer compliance and administrative costs, but it preempts stricter state hour limits and raises the risk of worsened health, safety, and fiscal costs tied to longer farmworker hours.
Employers of agricultural workers (including small and multi-state farms) gain a single federal maximum-hour rule (allowing up to 60-hour workweeks), reducing state-by-state compliance complexity and lowering administrative costs.
State governments keep authority to set other labor standards (wages, safety), limiting regulatory overlap by clarifying that the federal law only sets the maximum-hour ceiling for agriculture.
Agricultural workers in states that previously had shorter maximum-workweek caps will be allowed (and may be required) to work longer weeks—up to 60 hours—raising overtime exposure and increasing health and safety risks.
State governments lose the ability to protect farmworker health and safety through shorter maximum-workweek limits, reducing local policy options to respond to local conditions.
Taxpayers could face higher indirect costs (for example, increased healthcare or social services) if longer permitted hours worsen worker health or injury rates.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Preempts state laws that set a maximum workweek for agricultural employees of less than 60 hours, barring states from imposing shorter limits.
Introduced January 7, 2025 by Claudia Tenney · Last progress January 7, 2025
Creates a federal rule that stops states from setting a maximum workweek for agricultural employees that is shorter than 60 hours. It changes federal preemption language so that state laws cannot impose a lower maximum-workweek limit for farmworkers than 60 hours.