Data / Federal rules / 2025-12315
Recission of Final Rule: Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States
The Wage and Hour Division published this proposed rule in the Federal Register on July 2, 2025. Comments closed on September 2, 2025.
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What the agency says
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) that 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. A brief summary of this rulemaking can be found at www.regulations.gov by searching by the RIN: 1205-AC25.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2025-12315
- Type
- Proposed rule
- Action
- Proposed rule
- Agency
- Labor Department; Employment and Training Administration; Wage and Hour Division
- Published
- July 2, 2025
- Comments due
- September 2, 2025
- Dates
- Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on this proposed rule on or before September 2, 2025.
- Docket
- DOL Docket No. ETA-2025-0007
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 1205-AC25
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 20 CFR 651; 20 CFR 653; 20 CFR 655; 20 CFR 658; 29 CFR 501
- Topics
- Administrative practice and procedure; Agriculture; Aliens; Employment; Equal employment opportunity; Forests and forest products; Fraud; Grant programs-labor; Health professions; Housing; Housing standards; Immigration; Labor; Migrant labor; Passports and visas; Penalties; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements; Transportation; Wages
- Significant
- Yes, under Executive Order 12866
- Pages
- 28
Other documents from the Wage and Hour Division
Everything from the Wage and Hour Division · Rules on administrative practice and procedure · Rules on agriculture · Rules on aliens · Published in July 2025
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