In 2024, during the Biden presidential administration, the U.S. Department of Labor promulgated a set of new rules for the H-2A program that included the following standards, as described by the administration at the time:
- “disclosure of all applicable wage rates, including prevailing piece rates, as well as any other wage rate the employer intends to pay;
- requirement to permit workers to invite or accept guests to their employer-furnished housing;
- prohibition on operating vehicles that were required to be manufactured with seat belts unless all occupants and the driver are wearing such seat belts;
- disclosure of any productivity standards as a condition of job retention;
- clarification on the criteria necessary to terminate a worker for cause;
- agreement that workers may designate a representative in certain circumstances;
- disclosure of the owner of each employer, operator of each place of employment, and the managers and supervisors of workers; and
- disclosure of foreign worker recruitment.”
While some of these provisions seem innocuous, many represented significant new burdens for employers and restrictions on their operational freedom. Industry employers and organizations also saw overreach on the part of USDOL extending beyond rulemaking into the domain of lawmaking, which is reserved for elected representatives. As a result, industry filed numerous federal lawsuits which were mostly successful and prevented USDOL from enforcing most of the 2024 Final Rule.
The Trump administration’s USDOL issued a press release on June 20, 2025 announcing they would “suspend enforcement” of the 2024 Final Rule. Further, they also issued H-2A Farmworker Protection Rule Enforcement Guidance, indicating that USDOL will revert to the rules in effect on June 27, 2024, that is the day before issuance of the 2024 Final Rule on H-2A.
H-2A employers should engage their normal advisors for questions on these changes, and check compliance with current H-2A regulations using tools such as USDA’s Guide to the H-2A Visa Program, and USDOL’s H-2A Employment Law Guide.
By Richard Stup, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution.
The post 2024 H-2A “Final Rule” Suspended appeared in The Ag Workforce Journal.
