BRUNSWICK, GA. — A Georgia federal judge recently blocked a US Dept. of Labor rule written to shield temporary H-2A farmworkers from retaliation if they decided to attempt to form a union. 

US District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia found in a preliminary injunction that the rule was unconstitutional and violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

“Through this Final Rule, the DOL seeks to create law by affording some agricultural workers — H-2A workers and American workers similarly situated — the right to collectively bargain,” Wood wrote. “Congress has not created that right. And in fact, the NLRA reflects Congressional intent to not create such a right.”

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach released a statement after the ruling criticizing the Biden administration for trying to provide rights to H-2A workers that are unavailable to American agriculture workers. 

“That’s why Kansas took the lead in filing this lawsuit,” Kobach said. “The rule of law has prevailed.”

Other state plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. A few agricultural groups were also listed as plaintiffs. 

The ruling by Wood restricts the enforcement of the rule to the 17 states in the lawsuit.

In the injunction Wood also cited the June ruling by the US Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned Chevron deference precedent giving judges chances to rule on cases that previously were handled by federal agencies. 

The H-2A program allows US employers who meet specific regulations to bring foreign nationals into the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. 

Last summer, the House Committee on Agriculture formed a bipartisan working group to focus on workforce challenges facing US agriculture. Since that announcement, H-2A visa program reform continues to come up in Washington, DC, and other areas of the agriculture industry.