Labor Department Proposes Changes for Agricultural Guest Workers

(WASHINGTON, DC) The Department of Labor announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit public comment on proposed changes to the temporary agricultural labor certification program. The proposed changes would modernize the Department’s H-2A regulations by mandating electronic filing of job orders and applications, promoting the use of digital signatures, and providing employers with the option of staggering the entry of H-2A workers on a single application. The Labor Department also proposes to strengthen protections for U.S. and foreign workers by enhancing rental housing and public accommodation standards, strengthening surety bond requirements, expanding the Department’s authority to use enforcement tools for substantial violations of program rules, and updating the methodologies used to determine the Adverse Effect Wage Rates and prevailing wages to ensure U.S. workers are not adversely impacted. Finally, the new rule would codify and update procedures governing the certification for job opportunities in animal shearing, custom combining, beekeeping, and reforestation.