US Labor Department removes rules for coordinating migrant farmworker enforcement

The US Labor Department wants to get rid of its own rules for how its agencies coordinate enforcement actions related to migrant farmworkers. This means the Wage and Hour Division, OSHA, and the Employment and Training Administration will no longer follow specific, written procedures when investigating issues affecting these workers.

For years, these rules were supposed to ensure that different parts of the Labor Department worked together to protect migrant farmworkers. Removing them means each agency can now decide for itself how and when to coordinate, or not to coordinate. This could make it harder to track how well the government is protecting a vulnerable population.