Sarah Wixson Quoted on Rest Breaks Ruling

Feb 24, 2016   Print PDF

Related Practices: Agriculture and Employment

Stokes Lawrence Velikanje Moore & Shore Shareholder Sarah Wixson has been recently quoted in a number of articles about the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling that requires employers to provide paid rest breaks to piece rate workers. The ruling, which was handed down last year, changes how employers have traditionally enforced rest breaks for workers who are paid based on production, rather than on an hourly rate. This resulted in employers having a number of questions, which Sarah and Shareholder Dustin Yeager helped answer in a blog post they co-authored shortly after the decision was announced.

“[I]t’s a huge education curve on both sides and there will be a lot of scrutiny for a number of years, if not forever,” Sarah was quoted as saying in a Capital Press article covering a panel discussion on the topic in which she participated at the annual WAFLA Labor Conference.

A similar article in the Yakima Herald also cited Sarah as a resource on this topic.

“It’s not particularly farmer friendly,” she was quoted as saying. “When you pay piece rate, you have to run two individualized calculations to ensure each worker is making the minimum wage and to see what the rest break wage should be.”

The Stokes Lawrence Agriculture practice assists clients with the impacts of this ruling and other employment issues. If you have specific questions on how your business may be affected, contact a member of the firm’s Agriculture practice.