March 18, 2019

Massachusetts SJC rules employees at Chang & Sons farm in Whately are entitled to overtime

By Patrick Johnson
masslive.com
March 15, 2019

BOSTON — The state’s highest court on Friday reversed a lower-court ruling and decided that employees at a Franklin County farm are entitled to be paid overtime because the work they performed at the farm was not the same as farming.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Friday ruled in favor of the 15 plaintiffs in the case of Ana Arias-Villano and others vs. Chang & Sons Enterprises of South Deerfield. It ordered the case be returned to the superior court level for reconsideration.

The decision reverses a superior court ruling that denied the workers overtime pay. That ruling cited the Massachusetts overtime laws that exempt any workers “engaged in agriculture and farming on a farm.”

The SJC ruling declared the agricultural exemption is not applicable in this case because the workers were involved in processing crops for market, and not the actual growing or harvesting.

Justice Kimberly S. Budd, who wrote the decision, noted “the scope of the agricultural exemption turns on the meaning of the phrase ‘agriculture and farming.’”

At the Chang & Sons operation, employees between 2012 and 2015 worked up to 70 hours per week year-round inside a processing facility where they “cleaned, inspected, sorted, weighed and packaged bean sprouts. They also cleaned the facility and discarded waste,” the ruling notes.

“Under the plain language of the statute and legislative history,” Budd wrote, “the agricultural exemption does not apply to the plaintiffs, and therefore they are entitled to overtime wages.”

The Central West Justice Center, which represented the 15 plaintiffs, hailed the ruling as an important victory for worker’s rights.

Leticia Medina-Richman, managing attorney for the center, said the decision “brings clarity about what constitutes fair compensation for the many hours worked by those performing the kinds of tasks that the plaintiffs performed.”

With the decision, the case will have to be reintroduced at the superior court level. She said there is no figure yet for how much will be sought in back wages for overtime.

Attorney Susan Garcia Nofi, who argued the case before the SJC, said in a statement that the employees were not involved directly with the growing or harvesting of the crop. “They performed post-harvesting work in a factory-like setting,” she said.

Employees said work weeks regularly exceeded 40 hours and sometimes reached 70 hours.

The attorney for Chang & Sons, Sandra Lundy of Boston, could not be reached for comment.

The local and state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a “friend of the court” brief that was supportive of the plaintiffs. Harris Freeman, a cooperating attorney with the ACLU-Massachusetts and a professor at Western New England University School of Law, said the ruling is an important decision for labor.

“The decision of the SJC keeps Massachusetts in the lead of protecting the rights of all low-wage workers, including and most importantly, low-wage workers engaged in agricultural processing,” he said.

“Picking cucumbers is not the same as making pickles,” he said.

Northampton attorney William C. Newman, head of the Western Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU, said the court “clearly and emphatically ruled that Massachusetts labor law will be interpreted to protect as many workers as possible, especially those most vulnerable to exploitation.”

Chang & Sons Enterprises grows, packages and distributes bean sprouts and other crops throughout New England.

It has previously run afoul of federal law laws in 2013 and 2015 for failing to pay people at least minimum wage. In 2013, the company was ordered to pay $305,500 in back wages and penalties. Employees were being paid $5 an hour, below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and were working up to 90 hours a week.

Read this story at masslive.com