Judge strikes down most of Trump administration’s rewrite of farmworker wage rules

A federal judge struck down most of the Trump administration's rewrite of H-2A farmworker wage rules, ruling the Labor Department's new formula was arbitrary and skipped required public comment. U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff found three of four challenged components unlawful, including a new two-tier system that sets the lower tier — covering a projected 92% of H-2A workers — at the 17th wage percentile, a figure lifted from the H-1B program where that tier covers only about 60% of workers.

Sherriff also rejected a housing deduction that cuts wages by the value of employer-provided housing, calculated on a 40-hour week even though the department's own data shows workers often log more hours, and a rule that classifies an entire job by whichever task consumes over half a worker's time, sometimes pricing higher-paying work at a lower rate. The one surviving piece was the department's decision to switch wage-data sources after its old survey was discontinued, which the judge found justified by genuine urgency.

Rather than vacating the rule outright, Sherriff ordered the department to produce a new methodology and report back within two weeks, while leaving open the possibility of eventual back pay for affected workers.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.