U.S. Department of Labor says it has no control over farmworker’s prevailing wages

The U.S. Department of Labor is asking the United States District Court of Western Washington to dismiss a lawsuit. According to the suit, the department is accused of failing to protect Washington farmworkers’ wages their work conditions.

The lawsuit was filed by Familias Unidas por la Justicia, which is a farmworker’s union in Skagit County. It challenges the U.S. Department of Labor prevailing wages rules for temporary agricultural workers, known as H-2A workers.

The plaintiffs argue certain policies and practices related to those regulations are “arbitrary and capricious.” However, in a motion, the U.S. Department of Labor said those policies and practices are the responsibility of state agencies.

“The ‘certain policies and practices’ that are the basis of the allegations in Plaintiff’s complaint are those of Washington’s State Workforce Agency (SWA”), the Washington Employment Security Department (“ESD”),” the document noted.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s motion also noted that the state’s Employment Security Department is the agency that conducts prevailing wage surveys in Washington.

According to the motion, the U.S. Department of Labor reviews and validates the agency’s survey findings, but has no direct or indirect control over state agencies.

Andrea Schmitt is a staff attorney with Columbia Legal Services. The organization is representing the plaintiffs.

“U.S. Department of Labor has control over the entire wage finding process for the H-2A program,” said Andrea Schmitt, a staff attorney with Columbia Legal Services, the organization representing the plaintiffs. “In filing this motion, the department is attempting to shirk its duty to protect workers under the program and also attempting to delay the court.”

The U.S. Department of Labor said not naming the state Employment Security Department as a party in the case leaves the court “unable to accord complete relief among the existing parties.”

Now, the Department of Labor it is asking the judge to dismiss the case and to give the plaintiffs time to add the state Department of Employment Security as a defendant in the complaint.