Wage Rules’ Effect on Illegal Farm Labor Goes Before Fourth Cir.

A challenge to US Labor Department pay regulations for workers on H-2A temporary agricultural visas could hinge on whether a federal appeals court buys arguments that the agency didn’t sufficiently consider the rules’ impact on employers’ use of undocumented workers.

Under the Biden administration, the DOL has issued a spate of regulations governing the H-2A program, which US farms have come to increasingly rely on to supplement labor for harvesting fruit and vegetables as they struggle to find adequate American workers. Those efforts have repeatedly ended up in court, with the agency defending regulations on mandated wages, workplace and ...