DOL Delays New H-2B Wage Rule for 60 Days

On September 28, the Department of Labor (DOL) delayed the effective date of a new prevailing wage final rule for the H-2B program by 60 days. The wage rule was scheduled to go into effect on September 30, 2011.

The new wage rule is now scheduled to go into effect on November 30, 2011. The wage rule, in most instances, will increase the hourly wage that must be paid to all currently employed H-2B workers and American workers recruited in connection with an H-2B job application as well as future workers. More information on the wage rule can be found here.

The DOL is delaying the effective date of the rule by 60 days in response to two different lawsuits challenging the wage rule.  

Additionally, the DOL has issued the following guidance to H-2B employers:

Any employer who has received a supplemental H-2B prevailing wage  determination in anticipation of the September 30, 2011 effective date is not required to pay, and the Department’s Wage and Hour Division will not enforce, the wage provided in that supplemental prevailing wage determination for any    work performed beginning September 30, 2011 through November 29, 2011 by H-2B workers or U.S. workers recruited in connection with the H-2B application process. The employer is expected to continue to pay at least the prevailing wage as promised in the employer’s labor certification (ETA Form 9142) for any work performed before November 30, 2011. However, employers who received a supplemental H-2B prevailing wage determination must pay at least that wage to any H- 2B worker and any U.S. worker recruited in connection with the labor certification for work performed on or after November 30, 2011.