Recent Litigation Successes

•    In the spring of 2012, the team of CJ Lake and Greenberg Traurig persuaded the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida to block DOL’s 2012 H-2B temporary and seasonal foreign worker regulations from taking effect. Although opposed by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor, we convinced the district court to issue a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing DOL’s final 2012 H-2B regulations from taking effect. The Court ruled, as CJ Lake and Greenberg had argued that Congress had not given DOL the authority to issue the 2012 H-2B program rules.

•    In the fall 2011, CJ Lake and Greenberg Traurig also teamed up to obtain a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s final 2011 H-2B prevailing wage regulations based on Administrative Procedure Act violations. This challenge successfully delayed implementation of the 2011 H-2B prevailing wage regulations before DOL could effectively administer them. The delays caused by the lawsuit provided enough time for Congress to consider the concerns of the H-2B user community and to pass legislation prohibiting DOL from taking any step to implement the wage rule for the current fiscal year.

•    CJ Lake’s knowledge of the H-2A seasonal foreign farm worker program and DOL appeal procedures has allowed it to obtain a favorable result in the more than 50 H-2A appeals that it has filed on behalf of a variety of agricultural employers who applications had been denied or delayed by alleged deficiencies. These expedited administrative law appeals cover a wide variety of issues central to the H-2A program such as the permissibility of experience requirements in a job order; drug testing; prevailing wage and offered wage issues; and numerous other issues. Based on his experience with CJ Lake’s handling of H-2A appeals, one Administrative Law Judge ruled that CJ Lake was “uniquely qualified and experienced to handle time-sensitive claims concerning the H-2A application program and practice before the OALJ.”