DOL

The Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security are making available for public inspection a copy of the Interim Final Rule, Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program, Part 2, to be published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2013. This Interim Final Rule, developed jointly by the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security, revises the prevailing wage methodology used by the Department of Labor to calculate certain prevailing wages paid to H-2B workers and U.S.

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification has posted updated program factsheets containing the Quarter 2 FY 2013 selected statistics for the Permanent Labor Certification Program, Prevailing Wage Determination Program, H-1B Temporary Visa Program, H-2A Tempor

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19019-19021]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07201]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

The Department has published in the Federal Register a notice establishing the 2013 allowable meal charges and maximum travel subsistence reimbursement amounts. The 2013 allowable charge for providing three meals a day is set at $11.42 per day, although employers may petition the Chicago National Processing Center for a higher charge if justified by documentation of actual costs. Similarly, the 2013 minimum subsistence charge for meals during travel is set at $11.42 a day.

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification will implement an enhancement to its Labor Condition Application (LCA) Electronic Filing Module within the iCERT System allowing employers or their authorized attorneys or agents to reuse previously filed LCAs under the H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visa programs. This new feature is expected to significantly reduce the administrative time and cost of preparing and submitting the ETA Form 9035E.

To learn more about the new reuse feature please read this factsheet.

The Department of Labor has posted new FAQs for the H-2A program. Topics include custom combine activities, housing inspections, filing an application, rates of pay, reimbursable costs, surety bonds, and recruitment.

These FAQs are available here.

On January 8, 2013, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register establishing new 2013 prevailing wage rates for certain occupations processed under H-2A special procedures, including for sheepherding/goatherding and open range production of livestock occupations which became effective immediately. See, 78 FR 1260 (Jan. 8, 2013). The Department is hereby updating prevailing wage rates for these occupations that must be offered and paid in certain states effective as of January 8, 2013.

The Department of Labor has posted new FAQs for the H-2A program. Topics include signatures, job preferences, and fees. These FAQs are available here.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is announcing a new initiative to make available to the general public appropriately redacted copies of H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and permanent labor certification documents through its iCERT Visa Portal System. This new online tool, formally called the iCERT Labor Certification Registry (LCR), is a component of the Department of Labor's Open Government initiative and provides an additional level of transparency for the labor certification decisions issued by the ETA Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC).

The Department has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing new Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for each state based on the Farm Labor Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The AEWRs are the minimum hourly wage rates the Department has determined must be offered and paid by employers to H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment for a particular agricultural job and area so that the wages of similarly employed U.S. workers will not be adversely affected.