Judge Blocks Rule Allowing Farmworkers to Join Unions

A federal judge blocked the U.S. Labor Department from enforcing a rule in 17 states that would prevent agricultural employers from retaliating against migrant workers with H-2A visas for joining labor unions. Employers also couldn’t retaliate for workers organizing against wage theft, trafficking, and other abuses. Courthouse News says the judge sided with states in a lawsuit against the Labor Department and granted a preliminary injunction. He ruled the regulation would unconstitutionally give foreign agricultural workers rights that Congress never wanted to provide. Judge Lisa Wood found the rule violates the National Labor Relations Act, a federal law that allows certain employees to unionize. Ag laborers are explicitly excluded from the law’s definition of “employee” and aren’t entitled to collective bargaining rights. Judge Wood wrote that by implementing the final rule, the DOL exceeded its general authority constitutionally afforded to agencies. The rule was supposed to combat abusive working conditions for employees.