NEW AEWR RATES HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED
It happened later than expected, but it’s here: DOL has published updated AEWR rates today, August 3rd. For states covered by the preliminary injunction against the Farmworker Protection Rule (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), these new wage rates will go into effect on August 17th. For the states not covered by the preliminary injunction, the wage rates are effective immediately.
Along with calculating these new wage rates, they also calculated the national average AEWR. It appears that the national average has decreased from last year’s $17.74 to $15.96. For H-2ALCs, this means the cost of surety bonds will decrease by about 10%.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
If you have an active, certified Job Order, and the AEWR in your state increases, you will need to start paying workers the higher wage rate either today or August 17th, depending on whether or not your state was covered by the preliminary injunction. This is also true if you have worksites in states where the AEWR is increasing. You’ll have to pay the new, higher rate whenever workers are working in those states.
However, if the wage rate for your state or a state where workers are performing duties decreases, you must continue paying the old wage rate, since that is the certified minimum wage for the job.
NEW AEWR RATES
The following table includes the wage rates for non-range jobs that fall under the “Big Five” Agricultural occupations. For Range occupations and occupations outside the “Big Five”, see DOL’s AEWR page here.
Please Note: The H-2A Program requires employers to pay the highest of a number of wage options, including the state minimum wage, the federal minimum wage, a collective bargaining rate (if applicable), a local prevailing wage (if applicable), the applicable AEWR, or an assigned OEWS wage rate. In most cases, the highest rate is either the AEWR or the State Minimum. With that in mind, we have included State Minimum Wages that exceed the AEWR on the table below. These State Minimum Wages have been pulled from DOL’s Consolidated Minimum Wage Table, but we cannot guarantee that they are accurate or up-to-date. Please check with your state to verify whether a state minimum wage is applicable to your job.
