A federal judge in California has ruled the Department of Labor’s new farmworker wage rules are unlawful and need to be rewritten.
John Hollay with the National Council of Agricultural Employers tells Brownfield the Adverse Effect Wage Rate Interim Final Rule for the H-2A guest worker program is still in effect, but employers could be subject to back pay.
“Not only is the upending of the rule a major disappointment and major challenge for our industry, this uncertainty created with the possible back pay is just a real crisis situation,” he says.
The judge cites USDA data for near-record farm profitability in 2025 as one of the ways the interim final rule undermines claims employers were unable to hire more H-2A workers.
Hollay says most of those gains came from the protein sector, which can’t use the H-2A program.
“That’s the thing that is really so detached from reality with this ruling, is that there’s a sense that we weren’t even in a crisis situation, not even realizing that what they’re putting us back into really could put some farms into closure,” he says.
He says a final rule from the Trump administration would invalidate the court’s decision, but the lawsuits could continue.
Hollay says he expects the ruling to fuel support in Congress for the Securing Ag Workforce Act and help bring more certainty to farmers.
The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives says it’s disappointed by the ruling, and is urging Congress to quickly pass the Securing Ag Workforce Act to provide farmers relief from the broken methodology.
