Farmers Challenge Feds Over Wage Rule

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Tampa, centers on a minimum wage related to temporary farmworkers coming into the United States under what are known as H-2A visas. The lawsuit contends that a rule change by the U.S. Department of Labor will improperly drive up wages that farmers are forced to pay and conflicts with federal law.

“Either the farms will be able to pass along these costs to consumers, exacerbating historically high inflation at the grocery store, or what is more likely, they will not be able to pass through these costs and will be forced out of business within the coming weeks,” the lawsuit said. “These farms are selling their crops in a highly competitive international market, selling to the same customers as farms in Canada and Mexico paying farmworkers a fraction of the (wages required in the United States).”

Plaintiffs in the case are Florida Citrus Mutual, the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, Florida Growers Association, Inc., the National Council of Agricultural Employers and two Hillsborough County strawberry farms — G&F Farms, LLC and Franberry Farms, LLC. The defendants are U.S. Department of Labor officials, including Acting Secretary Julie Su.

The rule took effect March 30 and stems from a law that is designed to make sure that temporary H-2A workers from other countries don’t lower wages of “similarly employed” workers in the United States, according to the lawsuit.

“Put simply, Congress intended to avoid actual wage depression for current U.S. farm workers if similarly employed H-2A workers were allowed to work in the U.S. doing similar work,” the lawsuit said.

As an example, the lawsuit contends that the new rule “uses flawed surveys to impose wages on seasonal farm workers based on the earnings rate of non-agricultural permanent workers who are not ‘similarly employed.’ The Department of Labor acted outside its statutory authority in issuing this rule, and authored an arbitrary-and-capricious rule that should be set aside immediately, before it can destroy American farming.”

But in publishing the rule Feb. 28, the Department of Labor said the changes are consistent with carrying out the federal law.

“The department believes this methodology strikes a reasonable balance between the statute's competing goals of providing employers with an adequate supply of legal agricultural labor and protecting the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed,” a summary of the rule said.

The lawsuit contends that the rule violates federal laws known as the Administrative Procedure Act and the Regulatory Flexibility Act and seeks a preliminary injunction. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell.