[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 55 (Monday, March 24, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13500-13501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04904]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of H-2A
and H-2B Foreign Workers in the United States: Annual Update To
Allowable Monetary Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals and for
Travel Subsistence Reimbursement, Including Lodging
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the
Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing this notice to announce the annual
updates to allowable monetary charges employers of H-2A workers, in
occupations other than herding or production of livestock on the range,
may charge workers when the employer provides three meals per day. This
notice also announces the minimum and maximum amount of travel-related
subsistence reimbursements required under the H-2A and H-2B programs.
Finally, this notice includes a reminder regarding employers'
obligations with respect to overnight lodging costs as part of required
subsistence and reasonable travel costs to and from the worksite.
DATES: These allowable charges become effective March 24, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Pasternak, Administrator, Office
of Foreign Labor Certification, Employment and Training Administration,
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5311,
Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 693-8200 (this is not a toll-free
number). For persons with a hearing or speech disability who need
assistance to use the telephone system, please dial 711 to access
telecommunications relay services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services of the Department of Homeland Security will not approve an
employer's petition for the admission of H-2A or H-2B nonimmigrant
temporary workers in the U.S. unless the petitioner has received an H-
2A or H-2B labor certification from DOL. The labor certification
provides that: (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able,
willing, and qualified and who will be available at the time and place
needed to perform the labor or services involved in the petition; and
(2) the employment of the foreign worker(s) in such labor or services
will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers
in the U.S. similarly employed. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) and
(b), 1184(c)(1), and 1188(a); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(5) and (6); 20 CFR
655.1(a) and 655.100.
Allowable Meal Charge
H-2A agricultural employers who are employing workers in
occupations other than herding or production of livestock on the range
must offer and provide workers three meals per day or free and
convenient cooking facilities.\1\ See 20 CFR 655.122(g). Where the
employer provides the meals, the job offer must state the charge, if
any, to the worker for such meals. See id. The amount of meal charges
is governed by 20 CFR 655.173.
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\1\ H-2A employers must provide workers engaged in herding or
the production of livestock on the range meals or food to prepare
meals without charge or deposit charge. See 20 CFR 655.210(e).
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By regulation, DOL has established the methodology for determining
the maximum amount that H-2A agricultural employers may charge workers
for providing them with three meals per day. See 20 CFR 655.173(a).
This methodology allows for annual adjustments of the previous year's
maximum allowable charge based on the updated Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers for Food (CPI-U for Food), not seasonally adjusted.
See id. The maximum amount employers may charge workers for providing
meals is adjusted annually by the 12-month percentage change in the
CPI-U for Food for the prior year (i.e., between December of the year
just concluded and December of the prior year). See id. The Office of
Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) Certifying Officer may also permit
an employer to charge workers a higher amount for providing them with
three meals a day if the higher amount is justified and sufficiently
documented by the employer, as set forth in 20 CFR 655.173(b).
The percentage change in the CPI-U for Food between December 2023
and December 2024 was 2.5% percent.\2\ Thus, the annual update to the
H-2A allowable meal charge is calculated by multiplying the current
allowable meal charge ($15.88) by the 12-month percentage change in the
CPI-U for Food between December 2023 and December 2024 ($15.88 x 1.025
= $16.28).\3\ Accordingly, the updated maximum allowable charge under
20 CFR 655.122(g) and 655.173 is $16.28 per day, and an employer is not
permitted to charge a worker more than $16.28 per day unless the OFLC
Certifying Officer approves a higher charge, as authorized under 20 CFR
655.173(b).
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\2\ See Consumer Price Index--December 2024, published January
15, 2025, available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_01152025.pdf.
\3\ In 2024, the maximum allowable charge under 20 CFR
655.122(g) and 655.173 was $15.88 per day. See 89 FR 10101 (Feb. 13,
2024).
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Reimbursement for Travel-Related Subsistence
H-2B and H-2A employers must pay reasonable travel and subsistence
costs, including the costs of meals and lodging, incurred by workers
during travel to the place of employment from the place from which the
worker has come to work for the employer and from the place of
employment to the place from which the worker departed to work for the
employer, as well as any such costs incurred by the worker incident to
obtaining a visa authorizing entry to the United States for the purpose
of H-2A or H-2B employment. See 20 CFR 655.122(h)(1) and (2) and
655.20(j)(1)(i) and (ii).
Specifically, an H-2A employer is responsible for providing, paying
in advance, or reimbursing a worker for the reasonable costs incurred
by the worker for transportation and daily travel-related subsistence
from the place from which the worker has come to work for the employer,
if the worker completes 50 percent of the work contract period. 20 CFR
655.122(h)(1). In general, the employer must provide (or pay at the
time of departure) the worker's transportation and daily travel-related
subsistence from the place of employment to the place from which the
worker departed to work for the employer upon the worker completing the
contract or being terminated without cause. 20 CFR 655.122(h)(2).
Similarly, an H-2B employer is responsible for providing, paying in
advance, or reimbursing a worker for transportation and daily travel-
related subsistence from the place from which the worker has come to
work for the employer, if the worker completes 50 percent of the job
order period. 20 CFR 655.20(j)(1)(i). Upon the worker completing the
job order period or being dismissed early (for any reason), the
employer is generally responsible for providing (or paying at the time
of departure) the worker's cost of return
[[Page 13501]]
transportation and daily travel-related subsistence from the place of
employment to the place from which the worker departed to work for the
employer. 20 CFR 655.20(j)(1)(ii).
The amount of the daily subsistence must be at least the amount
permitted in 20 CFR 655.173(a) (or the higher amount approved under 20
CFR 655.173(b), if any). The maximum daily amount an employer is
required to reimburse workers for travel-related subsistence, as
evidenced with receipts, is equal to the standard Continental United
States (CONUS) per diem rate, as established by the General Services
Administration (GSA) at 41 CFR part 301, formerly published in Appendix
A and now found at https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates.
See Maximum Per Diem Reimbursement Rates for the Continental United
States (CONUS), 89 FR 67093 (Aug. 19, 2024). The standard CONUS meals
and incidental expenses rate is $68.00 per day for 2025. See 89 FR
67093, 67094. Workers who qualify for subsistence reimbursement are
entitled to reimbursement for meals and lodging up to the standard
CONUS meals and incidental expenses rate when they provide receipts. In
determining the appropriate amount of reimbursement for meals for less
than a full day, the employer may limit the meal expense reimbursement,
with receipts, to 75 percent of the maximum reimbursement for meals, or
$51.00, based on the GSA per diem schedule. See https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates. If a worker does not provide receipts,
the employer is not obligated to reimburse above the minimum stated at
20 CFR 655.173, as specified above.
In addition, the employer is responsible for those costs necessary
for the worker to travel to the place of employment if the worker
completes 50 percent of the work contract period. The employer also is
responsible for the costs of return transportation. The amount an
employer must pay for transportation to and from the place of
employment must be no less than (and is not required to be more than)
the most economical and reasonable costs. These requirements apply
equally to instances where the worker is traveling within the U.S. or
internationally to the employer's worksite. See 20 CFR 655.122(h)(1)
and (2) and 655.20(j)(1)(i) and (ii).
For further information on when the employer is responsible for
lodging costs, please see the DOL's Meal Charges and Travel
Subsistence, on OFLC's website at https://flag.dol.gov/wage-data/subsistence-rates, and H-2B Frequently Asked Questions on Job Offers
and Employer Obligations, on OFLC's website at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/faqs/print.
Authority: 20 CFR 655.173.
Amy Simon,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025-04904 Filed 3-21-25; 8:45 am]
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