Bains v. Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement

Opinion

DUARTE, J.

-Prunes are harvested from trees and must be dried to be marketed. Two administrative rules set forth different overtime pay rates for agricultural workers who harvest fruit and for those who process fruit for market; generally speaking, the latter receive more generous overtime pay. This case plumbs the line dividing the workers subject to each respective rule, as applicable to the agricultural practices described herein.

Plaintiffs Jaswant Bains and Piara Gosal, farmers, appeal from an adverse judgment after a court trial in which they sought a declaration that certain of…