Trump’s farmworker pay cut moved $2.5 billion a year from workers to growers. A judge says it’s illegal, and back pay could follow
Source: Fortune ·
The Labor Department has until Dec. 30 to replace the rule covering nearly 400,000 seasonal farm jobs. If it misses the deadline, pay snaps back to Biden-era rates.
From the source
The Labor Department has until Dec. 30 to rewrite the formula that sets pay for nearly 400,000 seasonal farm jobs, after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration illegally cut wages for foreign guest workers. If it misses the deadline, wages automatically snap back to rates set under the Biden administration. Growers who have been paying the lower rates may also owe back pay. Roughly a sixth of the U.S. agricultural workforce comes to the country temporarily to do jobs their employers say they otherwise can’t fill. Most harvest labor-intensive crops, such as melons, apples, and tomatoes, that machines can’t easily pick. They arrive on H-2A visas, which allow U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals for seasonal work if they can demonstrate that U.S. workers are unable or unwilling to fill the roles. Growers have leaned harder on the program as the domestic farm labor pool shrinks and immigration enforcement tightens. H-2A certifications have climbed every year since 2012,…