Willamette Valley Vineyards will pay its agricultural employees for overtime work beginning January. In addition, the Oregon producer will also increase its field workers’ wages as they face rising transportation, housing and food costs.

Under Oregon state law agricultural workers do not receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week.

Willamette Valley Vineyards Founder and CEO Jim Bernau said his company is voluntarily adopting overtime rules which the state of Washington passed into law this summer That law included a phase-in schedule over a three-year period which Bernau said companies like his can manage.

Under the plan, as of Jan. 1,  affected employees need to work more than 55 hours to be paid overtime – or one-and-a-half. Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, they will be paid overtime if they work more than 48 hours. By January 2024, these workers will be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours

In addition, Willamette Valley Vineyards will boost its agricultural employees’ base wages by 6.2 percent. Bernau said calls it an emergency measure, given the rapid rise of inflation. The company usually adjusts its employees’ compensation in May.

“We’re trying to address the challenges our farm workers and farm families are having,” Bernau said. “We hope this really helps.”

Oregon legislators are expected to consider a new bill addressing overtime rules for farm workers. A bill introduced this year to address the issue died in committee.

Bernau urges lawmakers to craft a bill tailored for agriculture and a fund to help small farmers pay for the transition.

For instance, the bill should mirror Washington State’s law and establish overtime rules based on a 40-hour work week instead of an eight-hour workday. During last summer’s heat spike, for instance, farm workers stayed home, Bernau said. When the heat subsided, the employees did as much work as they could, he added.

Willamette Valley Vineyards employs 272 employees, including 45 full-time hourly field agricultural workers. The company, which farms about 1,000 acres, employs about 135 field workers during harvest.

Altogether, Bernau anticipates spending about a third of a million dollars on overtime pay for farm workers and another $111,000 to boost farm workers’ wages. Wages vary A field worker may earn $13 per hour while a vineyard manager may be paid $24 per hour.

The company does have more options than its farm workers do to raise money, including introducing new products, Bernau said. “It’s really incumbent upon us to be as resourceful as we possibly can be to remain good employers.”

Willamette Valley Vineyards’ other employee benefits include a company match on the staff’s 401-K plans, as well as paid sick leave, medical, dental and vision insurance.

The agricultural overtime exemption has been the focus at least one recent lawsuit in Oregon.

Mano a Mano Family Center, a Salem-based organization that helps farm workers and their families, and two farm workers have filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to make the agricultural exemption illegal.

Javier Ceja, one of the plaintiffs, said he and other workers have worked up to 12 hours without overtime pay, according to the petition filed in November in the Oregon Court of Appeals. Now in his 70s, Ceja continues to work in the fields, according to the lawsuit.

“His experience has taught him that the long hours and lack of financial security that result from being denied overtime pay lead to poor health outcomes – personally, that has meant high blood pressure and stomach issues,” according to the court filing. “He sees many co-workers experience similar stress and health issues, including mothers and fathers who both must work long hours to survive but get no rest because they must care for children when they arrive home late at night, often having waked early to begin work,” according to the lawsuit.

The Oregon Farm Bureau in December said the lawsuit was “an appalling attempt to circumvent the legislative process by seeking to expand a 2017 manufacturing overtime bill well beyond what was intended by the legislature,” according to a written statement. Oregon’s 2017 law updated overtime pay rules affecting manufacturing workers.