A federal court blocked a Department of Labor rule extending collective bargaining rights to H-2A visa workers, siding with Florida and 16 other states that argued the DOL exceeded its authority.

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction this week against a Department of Labor (DOL) rule that aimed to extend collective bargaining rights to H-2A visa workers, marking a legal victory for Florida and 16 other states, which argued that the rule unlawfully granted rights excluded by Congress under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

In its 38-page order, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia noted that while the DOL has the power to create regulations within the framework established by Congress, the agency cannot create new rights that Congress has explicitly chosen to withhold. Florida and the other plaintiff states contended that the rule was an overreach of the DOL’s authority. They argued that Congress, when enacting the NLRA in 1935, deliberately excluded agricultural workers from the law’s protections, including the right to collective bargaining and claimed that the agency did not hold the legal authority to extend these rights through regulation.

“The Court finds that the Final Rule exceeds the Department of Labor’s constitutional authority because it creates a right,” the order states. “This is not in ‘accordance with law’ as required by the APA. The Department of Labor cannot make both executive rules and congressional laws.”

The court further outlined an inherent conflict between the DOL’s rule and the NLRA, writing that the regulation attempted to confer collective bargaining rights on a class of workers—agricultural laborers—who have been excluded from such protections since the NLRA’s inception and that creating new legal rights through regulation is a role reserved for Congress, not federal agencies.

“[B]y implementing the Final Rule, the DOL has exceeded the general authority constitutionally afforded to agencies. ‘Agencies may play the sorcerer’s apprentice but not the sorcerer himself.’ The Final Rule is an attempt by the DOL to play the sorcerer. The DOL may assist Congress, but may not become Congress,” the court said.

The H-2A visa program allows U.S. agricultural employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary basis when there are not enough domestic workers available. Florida’s agricultural sector relies heavily on seasonal labor to meet workforce demands.

The injunction is specifically tailored to the 17 plaintiff states involved in the lawsuit, including Florida. Other participating states include Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

The Department of Labor has not yet announced whether it will appeal the decision.