On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published a “Farmworker Protection Rule” that will force agricultural employers to allow, potentially, malign actors access to their business. The new rule will force agricultural employers to allow temporary workers to unionize, and in doing so, it will impose significant costs on employers. Once again, agricultural employers will suffer as a direct result of regulatory overreach. Major provisions to this final rule include: housing access, terminations for cause, management disclosure, recruiter disclosure, AEWR effective date, productivity standards, and worker empowerment rulings. The final rule will go into effect on August, 29, 2024 

On April 8, 2024, USCIS published a Temporary Final Rule, Temporary Increase of the Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and Documentation for Certain Employment Authorization Document Renewal Applicants, which increases automatic extension period for certain employment authorization and/or EAD validity from up to 180 days to 540 days. It is effective April 8, 2024-September 20, 2027.

On April 1, 2024, the Department of Labor published a final rule in regards to employee representation during OSHA inspection, which is labeled as the Worker Walkaround Designation Process “Walkaround Rule”. Per Section 8(e) of the OSH Act, employers and employees have a right to a representative during physical inspections of worksites with OSHA Compliance Officers. The final rule went into effect on May 31, 2024. 

On Jan. 31, 2024, USCIS published a “Final Fee Rule” that dramatically increases costs of petitions for H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers. Additionally, the final rule inappropriately burdens agricultural employers with a $600 “Asylum Program Fee” to cover the cost of the asylum program.  inappropriately immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. The final rule went into effect on April 1, 2024.