Foreign Farmworker Safeguards in Doubt as DOL Tests Its Power

The US Labor Department is fighting to preserve the bulk of its new regulations aimed at protecting seasonal farmworkers from overseas, even as a legal fight plays out over the agency’s statutory authority to grant workplace organizing protections.

A federal judge in Georgia this week sided with 17 Republican-led states that argued the Biden administration’s bid to bolster unionization efforts violated the National Labor Relations Act, which excludes farmworkers. The judge granted a limited injunction blocking rule in only those states even though the DOL has clear authority to issue regulations on the H-2A visa program.

In response, the government ...