The United States (US) department of labour (DOL) on Tuesday introduced final wages rules, hiking the existing wages for foreign workers in US who are holding H-1B visas or employment-based green cards, Times of India (TOI) reported.
The new rule is going to be published in the federal register on January 14 and it is the second attempt by the Donald Trump administration that is meant to hike the wages for foreign workers that include the H-1B or PERM labour certification program.
The introduction of interim final rule was the first attempt. It was implemented on October 8, 2020, and failed as lawsuits were filed in three district courts by plaintiffs from the technology, education, and non-profit sectors.
Regarding the interim final rule, the courts noted that the procedure of seeking public comments and reviewing their review was not followed and that led the DOL to do away with the rule.
"The final rule contains significant prevailing wage increases for all four wage levels, though the new minimums are not as high as initially sought by DOL. The rule also provides a multi-year transition period which is intended to give employers time to meet the wage increases and makes certain accommodations for H-1B workers who are pursuing employment-based permanent residence. Initial wage increases are set to begin on July 1, 2021," Mitch Wexler, California-based partner at Fragomen, told TOI,
President-elected Joe Biden had earlier said that the number of H-1B visas that are currently limited to around 85,000 annually, should be expanded.
Biden had also said that the exploitation of an employee could be curbed by ensuring that no employer can hire an employee below the market rate.
