Emergency Relief Refused in Case Challenging New H-2A Program Wage-Setting Methodology
Published Friday, May 15, 2026
Concurring with arguments made in an amici curiae brief filed by California Farm Bureau and National Council of Agricultural Employers, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on May 14 denied motions for a preliminary injunction and stay that United Farm Workers had filed in its effort to block the U.S. Labor Department’s new methodology for setting adverse effect wage rates under the H-2A agricultural worker visa program. The court denied emergency relief because UFW and related plaintiffs (1) did not provide sufficient evidence that workers were likely to suffer immediate, irreparable harm from the new wage rule and (2) waited too long to seek emergency relief. The parties must now propose a schedule for litigating the merits of the case.
Staff contact: Carl Borden, cborden@cfbf.com.
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