The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and Wage and Hour Division published its final rule implementing changes to the H-2A Agricultural guestworker program.  The final rule became effective March 15, 2010.  More after the break.

The new rule can be found here.

The new regulations undo many of the changes made to the H-2A program in 2008.  The new rules restore the prior formula for calculating the prevailing wage rate, using U.S.D.A. survey information.  Labor contractors must now provide specific location information for jobs offered, and must reimburse travel costs from the place that the guestworker is recruited, rather than from the U.S. consulate or port of entry.  The regulations create a new electronic registry advertising available jobs, and increase employer certification compliance requirements.  Employers must display a new H-2A poster where employees can readily see it. The poster is also available in Spanish.