Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy, 475 P.3d 164 (Wash. 2020)

Martinez-Cuevas and Aguilar filed a class action lawsuit against their employer, DeRuyter Bros. Dairy Co., seeking in part a judgement declaring RCW 49.46.130(2)(g) of the Washington Minimum Wage Act (MWA) unconstitutional. The workers claimed that the DeRuyter Brother’s Dairy Company failed to meet minimum wage standards, denied adequate breaks or time for meals, and failed to compensate for work done prior to and following many workers’ shifts. Although the parties were able to resolve these claims via a settlement, the constitutional challenge regarding the exclusion of agricultural workers from the definition of employee in the MWA remained. Petitioners argued that the exclusion of dairy workers from the overtime protections of the MWA violated the privileges and immunities clause found in Article I, §12 of the Washington State Constitution. They further argued that their exclusion from the MWA’s overtime protections implicates a fundamental right of state citizenship – the right of those working in dangerous industries to receive workplace health and safety protections.

In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the exclusion of workers from the MWA’s overtime protections was an unconstitutional violation of the state’s privileges and immunities clause. Per Washington State precedent, a privileges and immunities claim requires an independent two-step analysis.  The first step of the analysis asks whether a “privilege or immunity”—a law implicating “fundamental rights of state citizenship”—has been granted. If answered affirmatively, the second step of the analysis requires the court to determine whether the legislature had “reasonable grounds” for granting the privilege or immunity, asking whether the legislature’s distinction served the legislature’s stated goal.

Applying the first prong of the analysis, the Court interpreted Article II, §35 of the state constitution as creating an affirmative duty by the state legislature to pass laws for the protection of employees working in dangerous conditions. The Court then reasoned that dairy work is a hazardous profession and has an injury rate in Washington that is one hundred and twenty one percent higher than all other state industries combined. The danger of dairy work was additionally exasperated by the overtime working conditions of DeRuyter’s farm because the class regularly worked over forty hours a week. Finding that the first prong of the analysis was met, the Court was then left to determine whether the legislative record supported DeRuyter’s argument that exclusion of agricultural workers from the MWA was based on reasonable grounds. The court concluded that because the overtime protections are a health and safety measure, and because there was no legislative history offering a health and safety justification for excluding dairy workers, no reasonable grounds were present.