Triple R Farms, a tobacco farm in Kentucky, obtained a pause in Department of Labor administrative proceedings while the U.S. Supreme Court considers broader questions about federal agencies’ use of in-house administrative law judges (ALJs). The case stems from allegations that the farm violated H-2A temporary agricultural worker program requirements involving wages, recordkeeping, and worker housing, with the Labor Department seeking roughly $70,000 in penalties.
Triple R Farms argues that the government cannot impose such penalties through an administrative proceeding and that the case should instead be heard in an Article III federal court before a jury. The dispute is part of a wider wave of legal challenges to federal agency enforcement powers following recent court rulings that have increased scrutiny of administrative adjudication systems used by regulators.
