IFPA, AmericanHort lead legal fight against DOL’s H-2A rule
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) and AmericanHort, alongside several other agricultural organizations, have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), challenging new H-2A regulations.
The lawsuit claims the rule is unconstitutional, restricting farmers’ free speech and imposing new collective bargaining rights for temporary workers.
The case, filed in the Southern District of Mississippi, seeks a permanent injunction on the DOL’s rule. Plaintiffs argue that the new regulations exacerbate labor shortages and impose excessive burdens on employers.
“DOL is exacerbating an already enormously challenging labor crisis for growers,” said IFPA CEO Cathy Burns. “This lawsuit challenges the unauthorized process through which DOL passed this rule and the unlawful and unconstitutional impacts it has on American agriculture employers.”
Mississippi attorney general Lynn Fitch, also part of the lawsuit, criticized the DOL for overreach. “This attempt by the federal government to slip labor unions onto American farms through the backdoor undermines farmers and threatens the very fabric of the American agricultural community,” she said.
The lawsuit follows a similar case in Kansas, where a court ruled the DOL’s rule unconstitutional. Though the rule has been enjoined in 17 states, it remains in effect elsewhere, leading to inconsistencies for agricultural employers nationwide.
Plaintiffs, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argues the regulation complicates labor markets and threatens the viability of U.S. agriculture, which heavily depends on foreign workers through the H-2A program.
The case will now proceed in federal court, with plaintiffs seeking to overturn the rule nationwide.
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