H-2Ain’t No Way: Judge Rules in Favor of States Over DOL

A DOL rule is DOA (dead on arrival) in some states.

Order in the court: Earlier this week, a federal judge said, “NEXT”—Judge Judy style—to the enforcement of a Department of Labor (DOL) rule that would have allowed farmworkers to unionize in 17 states.  

Rule gets 86’d: U.S. district judge Lisa Godbey Wood said the rule, issued in April, was unconstitutional because it conflicted with the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA). Agricultural workers are excluded from the NLRA’s definition of an employee, and the law restricts ag workers from organizing against “unfair labor practices.” The rule by DOL would grant collective bargaining rights to farmworkers, which would have included H-2A workers (foreign nationals who come to the U.S. to work in the ag labor sector).

States in the lawsuit said the rule would give rights to H-2A visa holders that American citizens don’t even receive.

The DOL’s hearts were in the right place: DOL says the rule was to increase protections for those farmworkers—including preventing retaliation by employers against workers who self-organized or had concerns about wages or working conditions.

Getting through the H-2A maze: Ultimately, this protects farmers who utilize H-2A workers from additional financial and administrative burdens associated with the blocked provisions. We said “additional” since there are still twists and turns involved in the H-2A process for agricultural employers.

State-specific sidestep: This isn’t a nationwide injunction. It just applies to the 17 states and specific farms in the lawsuit. The states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.