• December 30, 2011. Additional Prevailing Wage Update for H-2B
  
  On December 23, 2011, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012. The legislation contains language prohibiting the Department from implementing the Wage Rule during the 2012 fiscal year. Based on Congressional intent to continue to implement the current H-2B regulations, the Department has published a Final Rule extending the effective date of the Wage Rule to apply to work performed on and after October 1, 2012. The Final Rule is accessible here.
  
  In light of this postponement, the Department has also published a Federal Register Notice providing guidance regarding wage determinations previously issued under the H-2B Wage Rule. The guidance provided through the Federal Register Notice can be accessed here.
  
  Please submit questions regarding the H-2B Wage Rule to the following e-mail box (established by the Department specifically for this purpose) H2Bwagerule@dol.gov
• November 17, 2011. Prevailing Wage Determinations - Update
  
  The Office of Foreign Labor Certification is providing this update to the public on issuing prevailing wage determinations.
  
  PERM: Became current the week of October 23, 2011
  H-1B: Became current the week of November 6, 2011
  H-2B: Anticipated becoming current the week of November 27, 2011
  
  "Current" carries a different meaning in each program. A prevailing wage determination is "current" in the PERM and H-1B programs when it is issued within 60 days of submission. For H-2B prevailing wage determinations, "current" is within 30 days of submission in accordance with the program's regulations. These dates may be subject to change based on actions not anticipated by the Department at this time, such as any additional judicial determinations or legislative actions. PWD appeals (redeterminations and Center Director Reviews) are being processed as resources allow, with priority placed on becoming current on initial PWD requests in each of the respective program areas.
• October 24, 2011. Prevailing Wage Determinations - Update
  
  The Office of Foreign Labor Certification is providing this update to the public on its plans for becoming current on issuing prevailing wage determinations:
  
  PERM: Week of October 23, 2011
  H-1B: Week of November 6, 2011
  H-2B: Week of December 18, 2011
  
  "Current" carries a different meaning in each program. A prevailing wage determination is "current" in the PERM and H-1B programs when it is issued within 60 days of submission. For H-2B prevailing wage determinations, "current" is within 30 days of submission in accordance with the program's regulations. These dates may be subject to change based on actions not anticipated by the Department at this time such as any additional judicial determinations. The PWD appeals are being processed as resources allow with priority being placed on becoming current on initial PWD requests in each of the respective program areas.
• September 30, 2011. Prevailing Wage Determinations - Update
  
  In light of the Department's recent decision to postpone the effective date of the Wage Rule until November 30, 2011, we have published this subsequent Federal Register Notice to provide guidance to those employers who received supplemental prevailing wage determination that have now been delayed. The notice confirms that employers who received a supplemental H-2B prevailing wage determination in anticipation of the September 30, 2011 effective date are not required to pay, and the Department's Wage and Hour Division will not enforce, the wage provided in those supplemental prevailing wage determinations for work performed through November 29, 2011. To read the text of the Notice, please click here.
• September 27, 2011
  
  The OFLC's National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) has reissued wage determinations on more than 3,400 previously certified H-2B applications to comply with the June 15, 2011 order of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas v. Solis. OFLC continues to work expeditiously to process pending determination requests for new H-2B, H-1B and PERM prevailing wages.
  
  On September 26, 2011, the District Court for the Northern District of Florida in the action Bayou Lawn & Landscape Services et al v. Solis, 3:11-cv-00445-MCR-EMT, issued a temporary restraining order to prohibit the Department from implementing the Wage Final Rule and to require the Department to issue prevailing wages in the H-2B program in accordance with the methodology of the 2008 H-2B rule. The Department will comply with the terms of the Court's order, which is in effect for 14 days.
  
  The Department has announced a 60-day postponement of the effective date for the final rule concerning the wage methodology for the H-2B program; please see here for the FRN. Further guidance and advice with respect to actions regarding H-2B prevailing wages will be posted on this Web site and in the Federal Register.
• September 12, 2011.
  
  On January 19, 2011, the Department published a final rule revising the methodology for calculating the prevailing wages to be paid by employers to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with an H-2B temporary labor certification. The Department recognized that many employers already may have planned for their labor needs and operations through calendar year 2011 in reliance on the existing prevailing wage methodology. Accordingly, the Department delayed implementation of the final rule so that the revised prevailing wage methodology only would apply to work performed on or after January 1, 2012.
  
  On June 15, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas v. Solis issued a ruling that invalidated the January 1, 2012, effective date of the final rule and ordered the Department to announce a new effective date within 45 days from June 15, 2011. In order to comply with this court order, the Department issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on June 28, 2011, in the Federal Register requesting public comments on a new effective date for the final rule. The Department completed a review of comments in response to the NPRM and on August 1, 2011, published a new final rule to amend the effective date to all work performed on or after September 30, 2011.
  
  Based on a review of H-2B program data and a shift in the effective date of the final rule to September 30, 2011, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification's (OFLC) National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) is re-issuing wage determinations on more than 3,500 previously certified H-2B applications which must be completed prior to September 30th. The Department is committed to meeting this deadline to ensure workers entitled to these new wages, and employers required to pay them, are fully apprised.
  
  The OFLC has reallocated significant staff resources within its organization to focus on completing the 3,500 H-2B wage redeterminations as expeditiously as possible, while simultaneously implementing plans designed to minimize delays in processing pending employer requests for H-1B, H-2B, and PERM prevailing wages. For the H-1B program, employers are reminded that they can obtain a prevailing wage on their own without the assistance of the NPWC and immediately file H-1B applications. Prevailing wage lookups for the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage survey are available at http://www.flcdatacenter.com.
  
  For additional information on delays regarding issuance of prevailing wage determinations and H-1B labor condition applications, please click here.
• September 8, 2011
  
  A link to the H-2B Wage Final Rule has been posted to the Prevailing Wage program page (under Regulations and FAQs) as well as the H-2B page (under Program Regulations and Guidance).
• August 15, 2011.
  
  The Department has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to assist employers and others regarding the Prevailing Wages in the H-2B program, specifically the issuance of supplemental prevailing wages in accordance with the June 15, 2011 order of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The FAQs are available here and on the FAQs page of the OFLC website under the Prevailing Wages Heading (under the subheading of H-2B Prevailing Wages).
• August 8, 2011. Update: Issuance of Prevailing Wage Determinations.
  
  The NPWC is currently experiencing delays in processing prevailing wage determinations as it is working to reissue certain prevailing wage determinations to comply with a court order issued June 15, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. We continue to encourage all requestors to submit their ETA Form 9141 at least 60 days in advance of the employer's initial recruitment efforts.
• August 1, 2011. H-2B Program: Wage Methodology Final Rule.
  
  The Department has published in the Federal Register a Final Rule to amend the effective date of the Wage Methodology for Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program. The Final Rule makes the change in the methodology effective for all work performed on or after September 30, 2011. To read or download the Final Rule please click here.
• June 28, 2011. Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment H-2B Program; Amendment of Effective Date:
  
  The Department has published today in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program. The NPRM proposes to amend the effective date of the H-2B Wage Methodology Final Rule, pursuant to court order. The Department is accepting comments on the proposed rulemaking until July 8, 2011. To read the full text of the NPRM and learn how to submit comments, please click here.
• April 14, 2011. Application of the Prevailing Wage Methodology in the H-2B Program; Amendment of Appendix B.1
  
  The Department has published in the Federal Register a notice announcing an amendment to the Appendix B.1 of the ETA Form 9142, Application for Temporary Employment Certification. The amendment reflects an employer's obligation to pay a prevailing wage determined under the new prevailing wage methodology promulgated by the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment H-2B Program Final Rule, which published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2011, and applies to wages paid for work performed on or after January 1, 2012. As of the date of this notice, all employers utilizing the H-2B program must submit the new Appendix B.1 with their applications. Read the text of the notice here.
• March 15, 2011, Prevailing Wage FAQs:
  
  The Department has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to assist employers and others regarding prevailing wage requests and determinations. The FAQs are available here on the FAQs page of the OFLC website under the Prevailing Wage heading. The FAQs are organized by subject subheadings and each FAQ includes the relevant posting date.
• January 19, 2011.  H-2B Program:  Wage Methodology Final Rule. 
  
  The Department has published in the Federal Register a Final Rule on the Wage Methodology for Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program. The Final Rule revises the methodology by which the Department calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification. The Final Rule is effective for wages paid for all work performed on or after January 1, 2012.  To read or download the Final Rule please click here.
• January 18, 2011.  H-2B Program:  Wage Methodology Final Rule.
  
  The Department has placed on the table to be published in the Federal Register a Final Rule on the Wage Methodology for Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program. The Final Rule revises the methodology by which the Department calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification. The Final Rule is effective for wages paid for all work performed on or after January 1, 2012. 
• October 29, 2010. DOL is Extending the Comment Period for the H-2B Rulemaking:
  
  The Department will publish in the Federal Register a notice extending the comment period on a recently published proposed rule - Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program, 75 FR 61578 (October 5, 2010). In an order dated October 27, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Comitè de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas (CATA) v. Solis, et al., Civil No. 2:09-cv-240-LP, 2010 WL 3431761 (E.D. Pa.) extended the deadline by which the Department must promulgate the final rule until January 18, 2011. In order to provide the public with additional time to comment on the NPRM and to ensure that the Department has adequate time to review and address the comments, the Department has extended the public comment period through November 12, 2010. To read the text of the proposed rule and to learn how to submit comments, please click here.

• October 5, 2010. H-2B Prevailing Wage NPRM:
  
  The Department has published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment in the H-2B Program. The NPRM proposes to revise the methodology by which the Department calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with a temporary labor certification. The Department is accepting comments on the proposed rulemaking until Thursday, November 4, 2010. To read the text of the NPRM and learn how to submit comments, please click here Read the news release here.

• September 30, 2010.  Prevailing Wage:  Validity Period for H-2B prevailing wage determinations.  
  
  On August 30, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas (CATA) v. Solis, et al., Civil No. 2:09-cv-240-LP, 2010 WL 3431761 (E.D. Pa.) invalidated the Department's use of skill levels in establishing prevailing wages and the Department's reliance upon Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) data in lieu of Davis Bacon Act and Service Contract Act rates.  The court order requires the Department to complete a new rulemaking regarding the calculation of prevailing wage rates in the H-2B program within 120 days. 
  
  The Department has been issuing prevailing wage determinations with a validity period ending on June 30, 2011, since the OES data is updated annually each June.  Given that the Department has been ordered to promulgate a new regulation in approximately 3 months, which may result in changes to the calculation of the prevailing wage rates, the Department, beginning on September 30, 2010, will issue H-2B prevailing wage determinations with validity periods of three months, in accordance with §655.10(d).  This change does not affect the validity periods of existing prevailing wage determinations.  It also does not affect any new requests for prevailing wage determinations that will be used in connection with PERM, H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 applications.

• September 17, 2010.
  
  The National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center (NPWHC) has changed its name to the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC). Contact information for the NPWC will remain the same except for the name change, as provided below:
  
  U.S. Department of Labor-ETA
  National Prevailing Wage Center
  1341 G Street, NW
  Suite 201
  Washington, DC 20005-3105
  
  Please continue to direct questions related to prevailing wage determinations or the prevailing wage determination process to FLC.PWD@dol.gov.
  
  Important Note: The Chicago National Processing Center (temporary foreign labor certification programs) and the Atlanta National Processing Center (permanent foreign labor certification program) will continue to provide assistance with program-related inquiries.
• March 24 Prevailing Wage FAQs:
  
  OFLC has issued updated prevailing wage FAQs to assist employers and others. These FAQs replace those issued in December 2009 by updating certain information. To see the FAQs click here.
• March 12, 2010:
  
  The Department published in the Federal Register a Notice announcing a technical change to the filing location address for the prevailing wage determination requests in the H-1B, H-1B1 (Chile/Singapore), H-1C, H-2B, E-3 (Australia), and Permanent Labor Certification Programs, as well as the prevailing wage determination requests for the use in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. To read the full text of the Notice, please click here.
• January 14, 2010:
  
  The iCERT System will be unavailable starting on Wednesday, January 20th at approximately 6:00 AM EST and will not be available until Thursday January 21st at 6:00 AM EST. Scheduled system maintenance and upgrades will be performed during this time. We will be adding new features to the application in order to better serve your needs.
  
  Key features in the new release include:

• The ability for users to file OMB Form 9141 electronically to request a Prevailing Wage determination from the National Processing Center. Users will be able to perform similar actions to submit and manage their 9141 applications as they currently are able to do for their LCA Form 9035 applications:
• Start a new application and submit online electronically
• Save an application in-progress and return at a later time to finish data entry
• Withdraw a submitted application
• Reuse the information on a current application to create a new case
• Delete un-submitted (Initiated) cases
• Request a Redetermination Review for cases with determinations
• The ability for users to further manage their accounts and sub-accounts and grant or withdraw permission to access the Prevailing Wage feature
• Readily available Printable Forms and their Instructions from within the application
• A new Case Summary screen (upon logging into iCERT) that will allow users to easily see the status of their last 10 cases submitted and quickly see the last 10 cases that had a decision enacted.
  Please review the Prevailing Wage Quick Start Guide to set up your account properly to submit Form 9141 applications.
  
  Please contact the OFLC help desk at oflc.portal@dol.gov for further information on the outage.  For specific questions on your application, application status, or other questions that do not pertain to the outage, please contact the OFLC National Processing Center at lca.chicago@dol.gov for H-1B assistance or the OFLC National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center at flc.pwd@dol.gov for Prevailing Wage assistance.
  Thank you for your understanding in this regard as we improve our website to better serve your needs.

• January 4, 2010:
  
  The Office of Foreign Labor Certification's (OFLC) National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center is open and is currently accepting for processing Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) requests for use in the H-1B, H-1B1 (Chile/Singapore), H-2B, E-3 (Australia) and the permanent labor certification programs, as well as PWD requests for use in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.  The Department has posted on the OFLC website Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that address the filing and processing of PWD requests.  
  The Department has also updated and posted on the OFLC website the Prevailing Wage Determination Policy Guidance for use in the Nonagricultural Immigration Programs.  To read the updated Prevailing Wage guidance, please click here.
• December 4, 2009:
  
  The Department has published in the Federal Register a notice informing the regulated community that as of January 1, 2010, OFLC's National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center in Washington, DC, will receive and process prevailing wage determination requests for use in the H-1B, H-1B1 (Chile/Singapore), H-1C, H-2B, E-3 (Australia), and permanent labor certification programs. The Notice also provides guidance about the issuance of prevailing wage determinations for use in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. To read the full text of the Notice click here.

• H-2B Wage Final Rule 2011
• Regulations
• Prevailing Wage FAQs
• Policy Guidance

• iCERT
• ETA 9141 Application for Prevailing Wage Determination
• ETA 9141 General Instructions
• Online Wage Library
• O*NET Online Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)
• Service Contract Act (SCA) and Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) Wage Determinations
  

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Office of Foreign Labor Certification
National Prevailing Wage Center
1341 G Street, NW Suite 201
Washington, DC 20005-3105

Application specific questions:  FLC.PWD@dol.gov
iCERT Portal System technical issues:  oflc.portal@dol.gov
Phone: (202) 693-8200