California Wage Order 13: On-Farm Packing and Processing Rules

California Wage Order 13 covers workers who pack, sort, grade or process a farm’s own crops, eggs, meat or dairy products for market in a permanent packing shed or a moving packing plant on that farm. If that describes your job, you are owed daily overtime after 8 hours, meal and rest breaks, reporting time pay and the other protections in the order, not just the field-work rules in Wage Order 14.

Getting the order right matters because the rules are not identical. A packing-shed worker who is paid straight time for an 11-hour day loses 3 hours of overtime pay every single day. Over a busy harvest, that adds up to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

This guide explains who Wage Order 13 covers, how it differs from Orders 8 and 14, the pay and break rules, the 2026 meals and lodging credits, and what to do if your employer is not following the order. You can read the official text on the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) website, and our guide to all 17 California wage orders explains how the system fits together.

Who Wage Order 13 covers

Wage Order 13 applies to “industries preparing agricultural products for market, on the farm.” The order defines this as any operation done in a permanently fixed structure or establishment on the farm, or on a moving packing plant on the farm, to prepare agricultural, horticultural, egg, poultry, meat, seafood, rabbit or dairy products for market. The key condition: the work must be done on premises owned or operated by the same employer who produced the products. Work incidental to those operations is covered too.

The Labor Commissioner’s “Which IWC Order?” guide gives examples of Order 13 work:

• Packing and processing in a permanent packing shed or moving packing plant, on the grower’s own crop and land
• Nut hulling, cracking, shelling and sorting on the grower’s own nuts
• Egg processing and packing when candling is done
• Dairies that process their own products on the farm
• Meat or poultry processing of the grower’s own animals

By the numbers8 hours

Wage Order 13 vs. Order 8 vs. Order 14

Three wage orders cover farm-related work, and the line between them depends on what you are doing, where, and whose product it is. Here is how the DLSE’s classification guide divides the work:

Situation	Usual wage order
Planting, growing, picking, field packing, hauling to the first place of processing	Order 14 (agricultural occupations)
Washing, sorting, grading, packing the grower’s own crop in a permanent shed or moving packing plant on the farm	Order 13
Packing or processing crops bought from or grown by someone else, or cooperative packing and warehousing	Order 8 (products after harvest)
Grower’s packing house that handles “a little for a neighbor”	Order 8 (the DLSE treats it as a commercial operation)

Some examples from the DLSE’s crop table: almond knocking and sun drying in the field fall under Order 14, while hulling, shelling and drying in a structure on the grower’s farm fall under Order 13. Lettuce field packing is Order 14; trimming and packing in a shed or on a moving packing plant is Order 13.

If you split your day between field work and shed work, the DLSE says the order that applies for overtime purposes is the one covering the activity you were doing when the overtime was worked. Since Order 14 overtime now also starts after 8 hours a day, the difference matters most for breaks and reporting time pay.

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Exemptions: who is not covered

Sections 3 through 12 of the order (hours, pay, breaks and related rules) do not apply to employees who meet the executive, administrative or professional exemption tests. That requires both exempt duties more than half the time and a monthly salary of at least two times the state minimum wage for full-time work. In 2026 that equals $70,304 a year. A job title like “shed supervisor” is not enough on its own; see our guide to misclassified exempt employees.

The order also does not apply to outside salespersons, to the employer’s parent, spouse, child or legally adopted child, or to participants in national service programs such as AmeriCorps. Government employees are covered only by the order’s minimum wage, meals and lodging, definitions and penalty sections.

Hours and overtime under Wage Order 13

Wage Order 13 uses California’s standard overtime rules for adults (and 16- and 17-year-olds who are not required to attend school):

• 1.5 times your regular rate for hours over 8 in a workday, over 40 in a workweek, and for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek
• Double your regular rate for hours over 12 in a workday and for hours over 8 on the seventh consecutive day

Work over 72 hours in a workweek must be voluntary, and you cannot be fired or punished for refusing it. An employer may use an alternative workweek schedule of up to 10 hours a day without daily overtime only if it was adopted by a two-thirds secret-ballot vote of the affected employees, after written disclosures and a meeting at least 14 days before the vote.

💡 Example (hypothetical): Jose works in a walnut hulling shed on the grower’s farm for $17.50 an hour. During harvest he works 11 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Each day, 3 hours are overtime, so he has 40 regular hours and 15 overtime hours. He is owed 40 × $17.50 = $700, plus 15 × $26.25 = $393.75, for $1,093.75 that week. If he were paid straight time for all 55 hours ($962.50), he would be shorted $131.25 every week.

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Meal and rest breaks

Under Wage Order 13 and Labor Code section 512:

• A 30-minute meal period if you work more than 5 hours. It can be waived by mutual consent only if 6 hours or less completes the day.
• A second 30-minute meal period if you work more than 10 hours. It can be waived only if you work no more than 12 hours and did not waive the first one.
• A paid 10-minute rest period for every 4 hours worked or major fraction of 4 hours. You do not get one if your total daily work time is under 3.5 hours.

An “on-duty” meal period is allowed only when the nature of the work prevents relief from all duty and you agree in writing, and you can revoke that agreement in writing at any time. When an employer fails to provide a required meal or rest break, it owes one additional hour of pay at your regular rate for each workday the break was missed. See our full guide to meal and rest break premiums.

By the numbers$79.46

Reporting time pay, split shifts and work recesses

Reporting time pay: if you report for a scheduled shift and are sent home or given less than half of it, you are owed pay for half the scheduled day, at least 2 hours and no more than 4, at your regular rate. If you are called back a second time in the same day and given less than 2 hours, you get 2 hours. The exceptions are threats to employees or property, a utility failure, or an act of God or other cause outside the employer’s control.

Split shifts: if your workday is broken up by unpaid, non-working periods the employer sets (other than meal or rest breaks), you are owed one extra hour at minimum wage for that day, unless you live at the place of employment. Our guide to split-shift and reporting time pay walks through the math.

Work recesses: a packing shed sometimes stops for half an hour or more while it waits for product. Order 13 lets the employer treat that time as unpaid only if it tells you when to come back and lets you leave the premises, with no more than two such recesses per shift and no more than 2 hours total. Stoppages under 30 minutes must be paid.

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Uniforms, tools, meals and lodging

If your employer requires a uniform (clothing of a distinctive design or color), it must provide and maintain it. Required tools and equipment must also be provided and maintained by the employer, except that a worker earning at least twice the minimum wage can be required to supply hand tools customary in the trade.

Your employer may count meals or lodging toward the minimum wage only with a voluntary written agreement, and only up to these 2026 amounts set in the order:

Item	Maximum credit (2026)
Room occupied alone	$79.46 per week
Room shared	$65.59 per week
Apartment	Two-thirds of ordinary rental value, up to $954.43 per month
Apartment for a couple both employed by the employer	Two-thirds of rental value, up to $1,411.85 per month
Breakfast / lunch / dinner	$6.10 / $8.42 / $11.28

No deduction can be taken for meals you did not receive or lodging you did not use. The order also requires lockers for outer clothing, change rooms when a change of clothes is required, and a heated room of at least 68 degrees where the work requires temperatures below 60 degrees, such as cold storage.

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Minimum wage and recordkeeping

The state minimum wage is $16.90 an hour in 2026 and rises to $17.40 on January 1, 2027. Many cities set higher rates; check our California minimum wage by city page. Piece-rate workers must still earn at least the minimum wage for all hours worked in the pay period, and the employer must explain the piece rate or incentive formula.

The employer must keep time records showing when you start and stop each work period, your meal periods and split-shift intervals, and keep payroll records for at least three years. You have the right to inspect them; see how to request your payroll records.

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How to enforce your Wage Order 13 rights

1. Write down your hours. Note start and stop times, breaks you missed, and days you were sent home early.
2. Keep your pay stubs and any piece-rate or production records.
3. Figure out the order. Note whose crop you pack and where the shed is. That decides Order 13 versus Order 8.
4. Decide where to file. You can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner or bring a lawsuit. Our page on wage claims vs. hiring a lawyer compares the options.
5. Watch the deadline. Most claims for unpaid wages must be filed within 3 years (Code of Civil Procedure 338), or 4 years when paired with an unfair competition claim.

Retaliating against you for asking about unpaid wages is illegal under Labor Code 98.6, and immigration status does not affect your right to be paid under state law (Labor Code 1171.5).

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Frequently asked questions

Is Wage Order 13 the same as Wage Order 14?

No. Order 14 covers field work such as planting, care and harvesting, including field packing. Order 13 covers preparing the grower’s own products for market in a permanent structure or moving packing plant on the farm.

Does Wage Order 13 apply if the shed packs crops from other farms?

Usually not. The DLSE says a grower’s packing operation that handles another employer’s product, even a small amount, is a commercial operation under Wage Order 8.

Do packing-shed workers get overtime after 8 hours?

Yes. Order 13 requires 1.5 times the regular rate after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a day, unless a valid alternative workweek was adopted.

Can my employer deduct for lost or damaged equipment?

Only if the loss was caused by a dishonest or willful act or gross negligence on your part. Ordinary accidents and normal wear and tear cannot be deducted.

Where can I read the official Wage Order 13?

The DIR posts the full text of IWC Order 13-2001 on its Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders page, in English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean. Employers must post it where employees can easily read it.

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