Agricultural Exemption Applies to Trucking Company Employees

The Washington Minimum Wage Act does not apply any individual employed in ?packing, packaging,? ?grading,? ?storing,?? or? ?delivering?? to storage, or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, any agricultural or horticultural commodity.?? ?The Department of Labor & Industries had issued an informal opinion that this exemption applied only to employees who were employed by agricultural employers. ?Relying in part on that opinion, the trial court and Division II ruled the exemption did not apply to employees of trucking companies who transported agricultural products.?? ?The Supreme Court unanimously reversed.?? Ignoring the maxim that exemptions to the MWA should be narrowly construed, the Court held that the plain language of the exemption covered the trucking employees.?? ?Cerillo v. Cipriano Esparaza, 142 P.3d 155 (Wash. 2006).