In the parable of the sheep and goats from the Book of Matthew in the Bible, Jesus says he will separate the nations “one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Although for purposes decidedly less theological, the California Legislature passed new wage laws that distinguish between these types of hooved livestock. It’s now putting goats and their herders at a disadvantage.
Most of us have seen goat herds doing their work on suburban hillsides, as California municipalities increasingly rely on them to eat brush and reduce fuel for wildfires. As the Sacramento Bee reported, the new laws now require companies to pay their mostly immigrant herders as much as $240,000 a year because of changes in overtime requirements. Because of an odd regulatory ruling, sheep herders are exempt from the changes.
Per the Bee report: Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law expanding overtime requirements for agricultural workers. The state exempted sheep and goat herders because they tend to their flocks 24 hours a day and the OT costs would be prohibitive. But in 2022 the California Labor Commissioner’s Office inexplicably decided sheep herders should be exempt from the rules, but not goat herders. In response, the Legislature relieved employers of both types of herders from the overtime requirements, while keeping in place measures that boosted herders’ wages.
But the newspaper explained the exemption was only temporary. It expired in late June and now goat-herding companies must pay their herders as much as $240,000 a year. Many companies might go out of business or are thinking of switching to sheep, but sheep aren’t as efficient eaters and, based on one of our editorial writer’s experience owning both types of critters, aren’t as smart.
A 93-page study commissioned by the Legislature confirms herding companies’ concerns, but why should legislators be so immersed in minutiae of goat herding? This is an enlightening parable about how well-intentioned laws cause unintended consequences and about the fruits of the Legislature’s meddling. Lawmakers should fix this problem and be more sheepish in the future.