California Wage Order 14: Farmworker Overtime, Breaks and Pay Rules

California Wage Order 14 sets the pay and working-condition rules for farmworkers, and since January 1, 2025, every agricultural employer, no matter how small, must pay overtime after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a day. That is the result of AB 1066, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, which is now fully in effect.

For years, farmworkers had to work 10 hours in a day before overtime started. If your employer still pays straight time for a 10-hour day, you could be losing 2 hours of overtime pay every day you work. Over a harvest season, that can mean well over a thousand dollars.

This guide explains who Wage Order 14 covers, how the overtime phase-in worked, the seventh-day rule, breaks, reporting time pay, special rules for irrigators and herders, and how to recover unpaid wages. For an overview of all 17 orders, see our California wage orders guide.

Who Wage Order 14 covers

Wage Order 14 applies to everyone “employed in an agricultural occupation,” whether paid by the hour, by the piece or another way. The order lists eight kinds of work:

• Preparing and caring for farm land, pipelines or ditches, including leveling, plowing, discing and fertilizing
• Sowing and planting any agricultural or horticultural commodity
• Caring for crops, including cultivation, irrigation, weed control, thinning, pruning, tying, fumigating, spraying and dusting
• Harvesting, including picking, cutting, field packing, placing crops in field containers or trucks, and transporting them on the farm or to the first place of processing or distribution
• Assembling and storing crops, including loading, stacking and piling
• Raising, feeding and managing livestock, poultry, fish, mollusks and insects, including herding, milking, shearing, handling eggs and extracting honey
• Harvesting fish for commercial sale
• Conserving, improving or maintaining the farm and its tools and equipment

The Labor Commissioner’s classification guide adds examples such as ranch hands, irrigators, wranglers, tree farm workers, on-site crop dusting and chemical application crews, and farm labor contractor crews.

Not covered: workers covered by Wage Order 13 (packing and processing the grower’s own crop in a shed or moving packing plant) or Wage Order 8 (handling products after harvest); the employer’s parent, spouse, child or legally adopted child; and employees doing primarily intellectual, managerial or creative work with discretion and independent judgment who earn at least twice the monthly state minimum wage for full-time work. See our Wage Order 13 guide if you work in a packing shed.

By the numbers8 hours

Farmworker overtime: the AB 1066 phase-in is complete

AB 1066 added Labor Code sections 857 through 864. It lowered the overtime threshold for agricultural workers step by step, with large employers (26 or more employees) going first and small employers (25 or fewer) three years later:

Overtime after (hours per day / week)	26 or more employees	25 or fewer employees
9.5 / 55	Jan. 1, 2019	Jan. 1, 2022
9 / 50	Jan. 1, 2020	Jan. 1, 2023
8.5 / 45	Jan. 1, 2021	Jan. 1, 2024
8 / 40, plus double time after 12 hours a day	Jan. 1, 2022	Jan. 1, 2025

Today, Wage Order 14 says that an employer, regardless of the number of employees, must pay 1.5 times the regular rate for all hours over 8 in a workday or over 40 in a workweek, and double the regular rate for all hours over 12 in a workday (Labor Code 860 and 862). Employer size is counted the same way as for the minimum wage, based on all employees, not just farmworkers.

Since January 1, 2017, farmworkers have also been covered by the general working-hours statutes in Labor Code sections 500 through 556 and 558.1, including meal period rules, alternative workweek rules, make-up time and the one-day’s-rest-in-seven rule (Labor Code 861).

💡 Example (hypothetical): Maria picks grapes for $18 an hour and works 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Each day, 2 hours are overtime, so her week is 40 regular hours and 10 overtime hours. She is owed 40 × $18 = $720, plus 10 × $27 = $270, for $990. If her employer paid straight time for all 50 hours ($900), she would be shorted $90 a week, or $1,080 over a 12-week season.

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The seventh-day rule

Wage Order 14 has its own seventh-day protection: if you work the seventh consecutive day in a workweek, you get 1.5 times your regular rate for the first 8 hours that day and double time for every hour over 8. The Labor Commissioner says this applies regardless of employer size.

Labor Code sections 551 and 552 also entitle you to one day’s rest in seven. Under Labor Code 554, the exceptions are emergencies, work to protect life or property, and jobs whose nature reasonably requires seven or more consecutive days, as long as you get the equivalent of one day off in seven each calendar month.

Irrigators, herders and fishing crews

Some farm jobs used to be left out of overtime. That has changed:

• Irrigators are covered by the same overtime rules as other farmworkers.
• Licensed commercial fishing crew members are covered by the 8-hour/40-hour overtime rule regardless of employer size.
• Sheepherders on 24-hour, seven-day “on call” schedules may be paid a special monthly minimum wage ($3,004.50 in 2026) instead of hourly minimum wage, but the employer must still pay overtime on top of it. The Labor Commissioner calculates the 2026 total for a 24/7 herder at $4,938.21 a month. Herders’ wages cannot be offset by meals or lodging, and if a herder does other farm work in a week, the regular rules apply for that week.

Rules for goat herders have shifted in 2026, so a goat herder should have a lawyer check which pay rule applied in each pay period.

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Meal and rest breaks, piece rate and heat

Wage Order 14 and Labor Code 512 require a 30-minute meal period when you work more than 5 hours (waivable by mutual consent only if 6 hours completes the day) and a second one when you work more than 10 hours. Rest breaks are 10 paid minutes for every 4 hours worked or major fraction of 4 hours, ideally in the middle of each work period. If your employer does not provide a required break, Labor Code 226.7 requires one additional hour of pay at your regular rate for each workday it happens. Our guide to meal and rest break premiums has more detail.

Piece-rate workers must be paid separately for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time under Labor Code 226.2, on top of the piece rate. Piece-rate pay must also add up to at least minimum wage for all hours worked.

Heat: outdoor workers are also protected by Cal/OSHA’s heat illness prevention rules, which cover water, shade and cool-down rest. See Cal/OSHA’s heat illness prevention page and our guide to farmworker rights in Kern and Fresno counties.

By the numbers12 hours

Reporting time pay, split shifts, tools and housing

Reporting time pay: if you show up for a scheduled shift and are sent home or given less than half of it, you are owed half the scheduled day (at least 2 and no more than 4 hours) at your regular rate. This rule does not apply to an employer with fewer than 5 covered employees, but if the employer has 5 or more at any time in a calendar year, it applies for that whole year. It also does not apply when work stops because of threats, a utility failure, or an act of God or other cause outside the employer’s control.

Split shifts: an unpaid break in the workday set by the employer (other than meal or rest breaks) earns one extra hour at minimum wage, unless you live at the work site.

Uniforms and tools: required uniforms and tools must be provided and maintained by the employer. Only workers earning at least twice the minimum wage can be required to supply their own customary hand tools. No deductions for breakage or lost equipment are allowed unless caused by a dishonest or willful act or gross negligence.

Meals and lodging: employer housing or meals can be credited toward the minimum wage only with a voluntary written agreement, and only up to the 2026 limits in the order: $79.46 a week for a room occupied alone, $65.59 for a shared room, and $6.10, $8.42 and $11.28 for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you are required to live in employer housing, the employer cannot charge more than these amounts.

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Minimum wage and records

The state minimum wage is $16.90 an hour in 2026 and $17.40 starting January 1, 2027, and some cities set higher rates (see our minimum wage by city page). A separate 2026 law, AB 2646, sets a higher wage floor for H-2A workers and some farmworkers alongside them starting in 2027; see our AB 2646 guide.

Your employer must keep records of when you start and stop work, meal periods, total daily hours, pay rates and piece rates for at least three years, and must give you an itemized wage statement each payday. You can ask to inspect your records.

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How to recover unpaid farmworker wages

1. Track your hours each day, including the seventh day and any days over 12 hours.
2. Save pay stubs, piece tickets and any notice your employer or farm labor contractor gave you.
3. Count back three years. Most wage claims can reach back 3 years (4 with an unfair competition claim).
4. File a wage claim or talk to a lawyer. You can file with the Labor Commissioner, which has offices in Bakersfield, Fresno, Salinas and other cities, or bring a lawsuit. A worker who wins a minimum wage or overtime lawsuit can recover interest, attorney’s fees and costs (Labor Code 1194).

It is illegal to retaliate against you for complaining about pay (Labor Code 98.6), and state wage protections apply regardless of immigration status (Labor Code 1171.5).

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Frequently asked questions

Do small farms have to pay overtime after 8 hours?

Yes. Since January 1, 2025, employers with 25 or fewer employees must pay overtime after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, and double time after 12 hours a day, the same as larger employers.

Is farmworker overtime different from other jobs now?

For daily and weekly overtime, no. Wage Order 14 now matches the 8-hour and 40-hour standard. Some details still differ, such as the reporting time pay exemption for employers with fewer than 5 workers and the special herder rules.

Does Wage Order 14 cover packing-shed workers?

Not usually. Packing and processing in a permanent shed or moving packing plant on the grower’s own crop is covered by Wage Order 13, and packing other growers’ products is covered by Wage Order 8.

Do piece-rate farmworkers get paid for rest breaks?

Yes. Labor Code 226.2 requires piece-rate workers to be paid separately for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time.

What if my farm labor contractor pays me?

Farm labor contractor crews doing field work are covered by Wage Order 14. A contractor that employs farmworkers must follow the same overtime, break and pay rules.

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