A Labor Department rule that cut wages for foreign guest workers is unlawful, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff in Fresno concluded that the Labor Department failed to reasonably consider whether it could satisfy its legal obligation \u201cto ensure that the hiring of H-2A workers will not \u2018adversely affect\u2019 U.S. farmworkers\u2019 wages.\u201d But he allowed the Department of Labor rule<\/a> to remain temporarily in effect while the agency develops a replacement.<\/p>\n Sherriff ordered the Labor Department to \u201cpromptly produce\u201d a new methodology for calculating H-2A wage rates consistent with his decision. He directed the agency to notify employers backpay may be owed to H-2A workers and U.S. farmworkers if the new applicable rates exceed what they were paid.<\/p>\n The ruling is a win for farmworker advocates who sued the Trump administration last year, arguing that the rule would undercut wages paid to U.S. workers. More than a dozen farmworkers across the nation, along with the United Farm Workers of America and the UFW Foundation, sought to overturn the rule.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs alleged that the rule \u2014 which they said cut wages of H-2A workers between $3 to $7 per hour \u2014 was \u201cunlawful\u201d and would \u201cput downward pressure on the wages of U.S. workers\u201d who are in similar jobs, often on the same contracts as those with visas.<\/p>\n According to the UFW Foundation<\/a>, after the rule went into effect, wages in California fell from $19.97 to $16.90 an hour \u2014 a 15% cut for both H-2A workers and U.S. farm workers working beside them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision recognizes the important and essential work of the men and women who put food on our tables and that farm workers should get paid fairly,\u201d Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, said in a statement. \u201cThe government must move quickly to issue new, legal, wage rates that protect the jobs and wages of local farm workers, and employers must be held accountable for paying back any difference between the new legal wage and the illegal wage rates still in effect.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Labor and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the government plans to appeal.<\/p>\n The Department of Labor previously estimated<\/a> that the rule, which went into effect Oct. 2, would save employers $2.46 billion yearly<\/a>. The union argued in the lawsuit that it constituted \u201ca transfer of wealth from the workers to their employers.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020, the Trump administration attempted to implement a similar rule but was blocked by a UFW and UFW Foundation lawsuit.<\/p>\n