California court strikes down H-2A wage cuts 

A federal court in California is reversing changes to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate introduced by the Trump Administration last year. 

The provision altered the method used to calculate minimum hourly wages for farm workers on H-2A visas, effectively cutting them by about $5 to $7, or around 15 percent, according to the United Farm Workers (UFW) Foundation. 

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by the UFW, the UFW Foundation, and 18 individual farm workers in March in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California. Among the plaintiffs are workers from Michigan, Georgia, California, Washington, Texas, and Missouri, the LA Times reported. 

In his decision, US District Court Judge Kirk E. Sherriff in Fresno, California, wrote that the Department of Labor’s Interim Final Rule that brought on the wage cuts was unlawful and its components “arbitrary and capricious.” He added that the reform also failed to meet necessary procedural steps, such as allowing a comment period. 

A new way to calculate H-2A wages

The court is keeping the provision in place for now but gave the government agency two weeks to develop a new wage formula to replace it. Sherriff also noted that the decision has a retroactive effect, warning employers that they might owe back pay to both guestworkers and American farm workers. 

Advocacy groups have been actively participating in the debate sparked by the changes to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate calculation, warning about eroding protections and the displacement of domestic workers.

“This decision recognizes the important and essential work of the men and women who put food on our tables and that farmworkers should get paid fairly,” UFW President Teresa Romero said about the latest court ruling in a statement.

Meanwhile, the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) CEO John Hollay said he was disappointed by the decision. 

“For years, America’s farmers, ranchers, and growers have been pushed toward a breaking point by artificially inflated wage mandates,” the executive said in a statement. 

Back in June, Hollay told specialized news outlet Civil Eats that farms had been paying “inflated” wages within the H-2A program, and the White House’s change aligned those wages with the broader market. 

*All images are referential via Shutterstock.

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