Court Declines to Halt DOL Wage Cut for Seasonal Farmworkers (1)

A federal district court in California has declined to block a Labor Department overhaul of wage standards for seasonal farmworkers hired through the H-2A visa program.

The United Farm Workers Foundation and several individual workers who sued to block the DOL wage rule failed to show they would suffer irreparable harm necessary for preliminary relief, Judge Kirk E. Sherriff of the Eastern District of California found Thursday.

The DOL issued an interim final rule in October that’s projected to save employers nearly $2.5 billion annually in wages, arguing that it was needed to preserve farms’ access to labor and protect ...