Last week, a federal judge in Louisiana recently issued a partial injunction on the 2023 Adverse Effect Wage Rate Final Rule for sugar cane growers in that state, citing a US Supreme Court decision that overturned judicial deference to agencies’ interpretation of ambiguous statutes.  

In the case Teche Vermilion Sugar Cane Growers Association Inc., et al. v. Julie Su, et al. (Vermilion), the Court granted a preliminary injunction for Louisiana farmers using H-2A agricultural workers for tasks such as hauling sugarcane with heavy or tractor-trailer trucks. Vermilion challenged the Department’s Final Rule, which reclassified certain workers and arbitrarily increased wages that employers must pay their H-2A workers and any workers in corresponding duties.  

In another challenge to the Final Rule, a federal appeals court panel in Richmond, Va., expressed doubt about USA Farm Labor’s claims that wage increases mandated for foreign farmworkers on seasonal visas should be blocked due to their potential effect on illegal hiring. The group also contends the government failed to adequately account for the costs employers would bear from new wage increases. 

Industry groups have repeatedly sued over the new rules, including three separate suits challenging the AEWR standards, so far with mixed results. Another challenge in a Florida federal court failed to win an injunction.