Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, H.R. 1603 subjects H-2A employers to a private right of action in Federal court for the first time ever in the history of the H-2A program. The bill does so by applying the right of action standard in the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, or MSPA, to H-2A employers.

My motion to recommit today simply provides that when an H-2A employer faces an H-2A-related claim under the MSPA, the employer is provided a right to cure before the claim can proceed. Specifically, the amendment allows the employer to attempt to resolve the alleged violation within 5 days of receiving the complaint. The employer must also file with the court documentation demonstrating that the action giving rise to the complaint has been remedied. After that, the court may dismiss the complaint if it is satisfied that the complaint has been resolved.

Under H.R. 1603, private right of action can include actual damages or statutory damages of up to $500 per plaintiff per violation, where violations constitute separate provisions. Most claims involve multiple plaintiffs and, in class action, could involve many plaintiffs who didn't even want to be part of the claim. For class action, the court is authorized to award the lesser of up to $500 per plaintiff per violation or up to $500,000. In other words, liability under MSPA could be half a million dollars.

Especially in the case of a fabricated claim or an unintended violation, this could be financially devastating for farmers. Costs like these to agricultural employers on top of attorneys' fees, court fees, and awards pursuant to other claim avenues should be taken seriously. They can be significant burdens on employers who did not knowingly or purposefully violate H-2A requirements.

At the very least, we should allow our growers the opportunity to remedy a potential violation before they are hit with a huge penalty. Today's motion to recommit would do just that. If the purpose of filing a complaint is to seek redress, then this amendment provides a reasonable path forward.

I am sure that those whose purpose it is to subject employers to additional claims, frivolous or otherwise, will oppose my amendment, but those who understand the importance of helping U.S. farmers in the face of constant and growing competition from foreign agricultural operations without our high labor standards understand how reasonable a right to cure is.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, my amendment would retain the ability of H-2A workers to obtain redress, but would provide important protection for growers, too.

Madam Speaker, if we adopt the motion to recommit, we will instruct the Committee on the Judiciary to consider my amendment to H.R. 1603 to provide a commonsense right to cure for our Nation's farmers, who will be subject to burdensome litigation under this underlying bill.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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