Statement from Attorney General Bonta on Court Ruling Affirming Trump Administration's Illegal Interim Final Rule to Lower Wages for Farmworkers
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today released a statement after the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California’s ruling that the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) 2025 interim final rule, which implements a significant reduction to the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), was unlawful. The Court found that the rule was arbitrary and capricious and did not meet the good cause standard for bypassing the required notice and comment period.
“California would not be the largest producer of agricultural goods in the U.S. without the hard work and dedication of our agricultural workers. Their hard work puts produce on the tables of millions of Americans. Yet, the Trump Administration attempted to weaken their pay and protections and reward employers seeking cheap labor,” said Attorney General Bonta. "Today’s ruling affirms what we have said all along: this is simply unlawful. As the son of parents who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers and vulnerable populations, my office will continue to stand for farmworkers’ rights in California and across this country.”
The Court further ordered DOL to “promptly produce” a new methodology for calculating the AEWR. Significantly, the Court ordered DOL to put employers on notice that they may have to back pay workers should the court-ordered new methodology produce higher rates than the rates effectuated by the unlawful interim final rule (IFR) in October 2025.
Background
California is one of the top agricultural states in the country, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the nation’s production of vegetables, fruits and nuts. The H-2A program allows certain agricultural employers to bring in foreign temporary workers when there are insufficient domestic workers to fulfill necessary jobs. H-2A employers are responsible for providing housing and transportation and must pay H-2A and domestic workers a wage, which is typically set by the AEWR.
In July, Attorney General Bonta co-led, with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a coalition of 13 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief to support the United Farm Workers’ (UFW) motion for summary judgment seeking to permanently enjoin DOL from applying its 2025 IFR.The longstanding AEWR methodology that DOL attempted to dismantle protected the wages and working conditions of domestic and H-2A farmworkers.
Through the IFR, DOL was seeking to transfer an estimated $2.46 billion annually from H-2A farmworkers to industry employers by lowering worker pay standards. The rule abandons reliable farm-specific data, arbitrarily creates new lower-paying job categories, and deducts housing costs from the wages paid to H-2A workers. These changes would harm the public interest and exacerbate the roots of farmworker poverty for both H-2A workers and domestic farmworkers alike, because when employers can pay H-2A workers less, they pay domestic workers less too.
Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting agricultural workers and the rights of laborers who work to uplift California’s economy. Last year, he led a comment letter opposing DOL's AEWR interim rule. He also opposed a previous effort to roll back regulatory protections for temporary agricultural workers under the H-2A visa program.
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