Statement on ending the farmworker exemption to VA minimum wage

Today, the Virginia General Assembly took an important step toward correcting a long-standing injustice by advancing HB 20 and SB121 to eliminate the farmworker minimum wage exemption in the Virginia Minimum Wage Act. For generations, farmworkers—many of whom are immigrants and workers of color—were excluded from basic labor protections due to policies rooted in the discriminatory legacy of Jim Crow. Ending that exclusion is long overdue and represents meaningful progress toward ensuring that the workers who help sustain our economy and feed Virginia are treated with dignity and fairness.

We are deeply grateful to the bill’s patrons, Delegate McClure and Senator Carroll Foy, and the many advocates who worked for years to move Virginia closer to equal wage protections. We urge Governor Spanberger to sign this legislation and ensure that farmworkers across the Commonwealth are finally recognized as workers entitled to the same baseline protections as others.

At the same time, we remain troubled that the final compromise retains a categorical exclusion from minimum wage protections for workers employed under H-2 temporary visa programs. A worker’s entitlement to basic wage protections should not depend on visa status. 

This legislation represents important progress and Virginia must continue moving toward a future where all workers contributing to our economy are covered by the same basic wage protections.