DARE - Document every minute of your day.

As a work-at-home mom of a busy one-year old I can’t document every minute. My goal is to write on important agriculture issues, while keeping the tiny human alive and happy.

Even when working full-time in an office, a minute-by-minute record was not only impossible, it was inefficient. Before working for Washington Policy Center, I was employed by Ag Association Management and we managed 13 accounts between three people. We knew it was impossible to document every minute.

With the random and unpredictable nature of our job we could not accurately bill every minute of work to each account. Instead we were paid by contract and if we managed the accounts in less time than expected it was to our benefit. A similar system, called piece-rate pay, is used throughout agriculture to pay workers based on production.

TRUTH - Documenting every minute of a work day is an impossible and inefficient task. However, this week the agricultural industry may be dared to do just that.

On Thursday, September 14^th the Washington State Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Mariano Carranza & Eliseo Martinez v. Dovex Fruit Company. The Supreme Court’s decision will decide if employers must pay piece-workers separately for non-picking work time, and if so, at what rate of pay?

For years, plaintiffs Carranza and Martinez worked for the Dovex Fruit Company as piece-rate employees picking fruit. Having agreed upon the piece-rate base with employees, Dovex would pay the higher of the hourly piece rate or the state’s minimum wage. Dovex used “work week averaging” to “gross up” any deficiencies, ensuring employees receive at least the state’s minimum wage for every hour worked, though the piece-rate base pay exceeded minimum wage.

By rewarding productivity, piece-rate pay incentivizes more efficient work and helps farmers attract a higher skilled workforce. Piece-rate systems increase productivity up to 50% and take-home wages can increase 30%. Piece-rate pay also allows seasonal businesses to meet the pressing demands of the industry, while accommodating the schedule and earning needs of their employees.

Carranza and Martinez argue that this piece-rate weekly averaging practice violates Washington’s Minimum Wage Act (MWA). Plaintiffs claim Dovex violated the MWA because employees were not paid directly for non-picking activities including, but not limited to: carrying ladders, waiting for equipment, traveling between orchards, storing equipment, and moving equipment and materials. 

Dovex asserts that the plaintiffs agreed upon the rate being paid and that the plaintiffs’ arguments hang precariously upon a stretched interpretation of the Court’s ruling in Lopez Demetrio v. Sakuma Brothers Farms, Inc, which ruled employers must compensate piece-rate employees for break time times at their average piece rate. This decision did not address a new category for non-picking tasks.

Carranza & Martinez v. Dovex Fruit Company could potentially dismantle the long-held practice of piece-rate pay in Washington state. Supporters of the plaintiffs argue that this is not the intent and that calculating non-picking time is possible.

However, how does a farm calculate the time each employee takes to move a ladder, wait for equipment, or drive to a different orchard? The practical answer is they don’t.

As one amicus brief suggests the non-picking tasks could extend to include walking from tree to tree, moving ladders from tree to tree, taking breaks to drink water outside of rest breaks, and waiting for bins. The list of non-picking tasks would prove disastrous for administering a tracking system based on the concept. Because of the obvious complexity, agricultural employers will be forced to pay an hourly wage, hurting workers and farmers.

In an attempt to address one more “slight” against workers, labor advocates are daring the agricultural industry to remove a system that is beneficial and fair for workers. The agriculture industry is watching this case closely, hoping that on Thursday the Washington State Supreme Court will hear the truth that the piece-rate system is fair and beneficial to both workers and farmers and rule in favor of the defendant.