Two U.S. House of Representatives committee chairs recently sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking it to evaluate the effectiveness of the H-2A visa program. The letter was sent by Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania. The H-2A visa program, widely used in agriculture, …
H-2A Workers Blocked From Joining Unions in 17 States
A federal judge in Georgia on Aug. 26 blocked a federal rule allowing migrant farmworkers to join unions in 17 states. The ruling prevents the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing the new rule. The rule would have prevented agricultural employers from retaliating against migrant workers with H-2A temporary work visas for joining labor unions and organizing against wage …
Legislators Seek H-2A Wage Freeze
Seventy-five U.S. House of Representatives members have asked House and Senate appropriations leaders for an H-2A visa guestworker wage freeze in an upcoming spending package. The text of the representatives’ letter to appropriations leaders follows: “We write with shared concerns regarding the annual adjustment to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). Now in 2024, the H-2A labor rates paid by …
Federal Omnibus Deal Fails to Include Farm Labor Act
On Dec. 22, the U.S. Senate passed the omnibus appropriations bill. The $1.7 trillion measure would fund the federal government through the remainder of 2023. The measure now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote to avoid a government shutdown on the evening of Dec. 23. Much to the dismay of farm groups nationwide, the Senate Affordable …
H-2A Labor Program Amended
The U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule to amend H-2A temporary labor certification regulations to better protect agricultural workers and to update the application and certification process. The final rule becomes effective Nov. 14, 2022. The H-2A program allows employers to address temporary labor needs by employing foreign agricultural workers when there are not sufficient workers who are …
Increased Labor Law Enforcement in Southeast
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is continuing its multi-year education and enforcement initiative to increase compliance with federal labor laws in the Southeast’s agriculture industry. In addition to enforcement activity, the initiative provides compliance assistance to employers and educates workers and other stakeholders. The division and industry stakeholders in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, …
Grower Associations Object to H-2A Wage Methodology
Florida Citrus Mutual recently published the following statement about comments it submitted regarding the wage rate for temporary foreign H-2A workers: “On January 31, 2022, Florida Citrus Mutual, along with many other agricultural entities nationwide, submitted comments to the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) in reference to the proposed changes to the methodology for the adverse effect wage rate …
Florida Citrus Labor Contractors Penalized
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported that three Arcadia citrus labor contractors failed to comply with the federal H-2A agricultural worker visa program, shortchanging employees $72,609 in total wages. The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found that Benjamin M. Ramirez Harvesting Inc., AO Harvesting LLC and Gustavo Cisneros Harvesting Inc. failed to provide H-2A employees with at least three-quarters …