Waynesville farmer group sues US Labor Department over wage rule changes

By Rex Hodge

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    HAYWOOD COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — An organization in Waynesville is taking legal action against the US Department of Labor. It argues a new rule is hurting farmers and could hurt your wallet, too.

Waynesville’s USA Farm Labor office is suing the federal Labor Department over a migrant program.

“The H2-A program is a way for farmers to get seasonal labor to help these farms. So, it’s a 10-month or less program,” says Noah Parr.

Parr and Alex Cracchiolo say the H2-A program has benefits designed to curtail irregular immigration, provide employers with a source of legal workers, and avoid disadvantages to Americans.

But they say a new Labor Department rule on wages is proving cumbersome to farmers, defining six more traditional agricultural-type jobs for one wage and another, more expensive wage for specialized jobs.

“In a lot of cases, these kinds of tasks are ancillary or incidental,” Cracchiolo says.

“Like commercial truck drivers. They use those wages to compare to farm wages,” Parr said.

“As a result of that, you’re potentially seeing people being forced to pay $7, $8, $10 extra,” Cracchiolo said.

He says that can drive some farmers out of business. He says calculations by the Labor Department to make this change are flawed.

“They did that just based on the occupation titles, not the job duties involved, even though it’s the job duties involved, not the occupation titles that are going to matter,” Cracchiolo said. “For us, like that is really scary that this was able to go through with so little research on the impact. We’re seeing potentially this huge exodus away from the H2-A program, which is really scary because, for a lot of people, that’s the only option they have.”

USA Farm Labor says the downstream impact would not only force many farmers out of business but potentially land on consumers, too.

“With food costs already rising, this will only make the problem worse,” Cracchiolo said.

USA Farm Labor, which represents 900 clients nationwide, is seeking a preliminary injunction.

“I would love to see the Department of Labor have to go back to square one on this rule,” Cracchiolo said.

The organization says the next step is to take the case to federal court in Asheville in August.

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