The ACLU of New Jersey, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice have filed a complaint on behalf of El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA). The complaint seeks injunctive relief and declaratory judgment for violations of equal protection under the New Jersey Constitution.
Filed in New Jersey Superior Court for Mercer County, the complaint argues that exclusions in the state’s wage and hour laws denying farmworkers equal wages and overtime protection are discriminatory. It asserts that these exclusions violate the state constitution's prohibition on special laws.
“New Jersey’s arbitrary exclusions of farmworkers from wage protections are based in racism and effectively relegate farmworkers to a second-class legal status, depriving CATA members of their rights to equality, dignity, safety, and health,” said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Jeanne LoCicero. “States across the country have recognized that overtime and minimum wage exclusions undermine equality – it’s past time for New Jersey to do the same.”
Since 1966, New Jersey has denied farmworkers the right to overtime pay mandated for other similarly situated workers. Despite amending the law in 2019 to increase the minimum wage to $15 beginning in 2024, legislators disqualified farmworkers from equivalent protection, setting a lower minimum wage with incremental increases until 2030.
"Farmworkers in New Jersey, many of whom are members of CATA, for years have faced the burdens of low wages, long hours of work, and a certain feeling of invisibility in our society,” said Jessica Culley, General Coordinator at CATA. “We want to see New Jersey become a leader in supporting farmworker rights, beginning with paying them equal wages and extending overtime pay.”
These exclusions harm a particularly vulnerable group and mirror federal policies designed to perpetuate racial discrimination. New Jersey lawmakers modeled WHL’s farmworker exclusions on similar exclusions in the Fair Labor Standards Act and other New Deal labor laws intended to exclude Black and minority workers.
“Farmworkers have been denied fundamental rights for many years, and they deserve to be free from discrimination and racism that has denied them fair wages,” said Manuel Guzman, Lead Organizer at CATA. "Increased income will allow workers to more fully support their families."
“Better pay for farmworkers would lead to improved living conditions, better access to healthcare, and more opportunities for education,” said Edgar Aquino-Huerta, Worker Organizer at CATA. “With higher wages, workers will be able to better prioritize their health and safety.”
The New Jersey Supreme Court has previously recognized that farmworkers—most of whom are Latine immigrants—warrant special judicial consideration due to their marginalized status: low wages, little union representation, and limited voting rights make them especially vulnerable.
“New Jersey courts have a long tradition of fulfilling the State Constitution’s promise as a source of independent protection than the Federal Constitution,” said Jenny-Brooke Condon from Seton Hall Law School’s Equal Justice Clinic. “That tradition matters where vulnerable farmworkers seek fulfillment of equal treatment.”
“The Legislature’s exclusion targets some of the state’s hardest-working residents who struggle to provide for their own families,” said Noelle Smith from ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “These laws should be struck down; farmworkers are entitled to basic wage protections afforded to other New Jerseyans.”
