AB 2646 Sets Wage Rule for Some California Pistachio Workers

A pistachio crew’s time sheet can turn on a detail that is easy to miss in a busy season: where a temporary worker was hired. Under California’s new agriculture wage law, the route into the job—and the work done alongside that employee—can determine which minimum rate applies.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2646, setting a $19.75 hourly minimum for certain agricultural workers. The law’s wage change is scheduled to take effect at the start of 2027.

The comparison is local

The covered group includes temporary and seasonal agricultural workers hired from outside California, including H-2A workers. California employees doing the same or substantially similar work for the same employer in the same county are included too, according to California Citrus Mutual’s summary.

That makes the rule more than a question of checking H-2A pay. Employers will need to consider whether California employees doing comparable work meet the same-employer, same-county test. The published description does not characterize this as a blanket increase for every agricultural employee.

Put the roster beside the payroll

For a pistachio operation, the practical first pass is to sort temporary and seasonal hires by recruitment origin, then compare their work with California employees at the same employer and location. A payroll review that looks only at worker labels could miss the comparison the law specifies.

California Citrus Mutual points employers to resources from labor law consultant Fisher Phillips. Its notice does not spell out the full analysis for deciding when work is “substantially similar,” so employers with overlapping crews or jobs will need to resolve that question against the law’s actual requirements. The Fisher Phillips resource notice is the starting point provided by the association.

The useful distinction for orchard managers is not simply seasonal versus year-round labor. It is whether workers hired through different channels are doing comparable work under the same employer within the same county—a comparison that can cross crew assignments and payroll categories.