The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is proposing to amend its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers) and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM or proposed rule) would rescind provisions contained within a final rule published by the Department on April 29, 2024, which adopted a number of unnecessary, burdensome, and costly requirements on employers. Specifically, these provisions include, but are not limited to, substantial new requirements associated with the material terms and conditions offered by employers to H-2A workers that are not commonly provided to other U.S. workers, including progressive discipline policies for cause-based employment terminations, anti-retaliation measures for certain workers engaged in self-organization and other concerted activities, and expanding the authority and scope for a State Workforce Agency (SWA) to discontinue employment services to employers, which prevents those employers from accessing the H-2A program, while eliminating employers’ option to request a hearing prior to the SWA’s final determination. Further, the final rule imposed extensive highly-sensitive data collection requirements on employers related to their use of foreign labor recruiters, including personal names and physical addresses abroad, as well as detailed personal information associated with all owners of the employers, operators of the place(s) of employment, and supervisor(s) and manager(s) of workers employed under the terms of the work contract, with very limited or no practical utility to the agency’s statutory decision making.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found here. The public may access the docket to read background documents or comments received by going to https://www.regulations.gov (search using RIN 1205-AC25 or Docket No. ETA-2025-0007). If you need assistance to review the comments, contact the Office of Policy Development and Research at 202-693-3700 (this is not a toll-free number). Comments must be submitted by September 2, 2025.
On June 20, 2025, the Wage and Hour Division announced that it has suspended enforcement of all provisions introduced in the 2024 H-2A Final Rule (see Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-2).