Dec 3, 2020Agriculture labor group sues DOL over Adverse Effect Wage Rate freeze
The nation’s largest agricultural union is suing the Department of Labor for imposing a two-year wage freeze on farm laborers, who are already among the lowest paid workers in the United States.
According to a story by Courthouse News Service, the new rule published by the Department of Labor Nov. 5 locks in at 2019 levels the minimum wage employers must pay foreign agricultural workers with H-2A visas, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate.
Beginning in 2023, the Labor Department will tie future wage increases to the the generic employment cost index instead of relying on the Farm Labor Survey, causing wages to rise at an even slower rate.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue welcomed the new rule in a press release, saying it “could not have come at a better time” for American farmers as agricultural labor shortages have led to unsustainable wage increases for farmworkers.
The Labor Department estimates that $1.6 billion in H-2A wages will be transferred from workers to employers over the next 10 years.
In a federal lawsuit filed Nov. 30, the United Farm Workers said the rule not only keeps wages artificially low for foreign guest workers but will also cause U.S. farmworkers’ wages to stagnate.
“As DOL recognizes, H-2A wages must reflect market rates to protect against wage stagnation or depression. The Final Rule disregards that principle. Instead, it purposefully causes farmworker wages to stagnate by imposing a two-year wage freeze, and it later applies adjustments that will produce lower wages, unrelated to market conditions,” the complaint states.
The union says the new Adverse Effect Wage Rate method will cause workers to be paid at least 4% less on average than under the current regulations.
To view the entire Courthouse News Service story, visit here.
