Protections for Farmworkers Temporarily Reinstated

The Department of Labor is officially suspending a Bush administration regulation that stripped agricultural workers of certain housing and wage protections. The rule, one of President Bush’s midnight regulations, was finalized Dec. 18 and went into effect Jan. 17.

According to a notice set to appear in tomorrow’s Federal Register, “The Department is republishing and reinstating the regulations in place on January 16, 2009 for a period of 9 months, after which the Department will either have engaged in further rulemaking or lift the suspension.”

The regulation restructured the H2-A visa program. The program allows foreign nationals to apply to perform agricultural work in the U.S. on a seasonal basis. According to the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, the regulation “reduc[es] obligations for growers to effectively recruit U.S. workers before applying to bring in guestworkers, lower[s] the wage rates by changing the program’s wage formula and eliminat[es] government oversight of the program.”

The regulation was one of many finalized late in the Bush administration that reduced or eliminated government’s role in protecting workers, consumers, and the environment. Most of the Bush administration’s midnight regulations were really more like deregulations.

The Obama administration has made progress in rolling back many of the Bush administration’s most controversial decisions. But on midnight regulations, some problems remain. Check our list of midnight regulations for updates.

back to Blog