GAO reviewed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor's (DOL) new rule on Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program, Part 2. GAO found that (1) the interim final rule amends regulations governing certification for the employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal non-agricultural employment. This interim final rule revises how DOL provides the consultation that DHS has determined is necessary to adjudicate H-2B petitions by revising the methodology by which DOL calculates the prevailing wages to be paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with the application for certification; the prevailing wage is then used in petitioning DHS to employ nonimmigrant workers in H-2B status. DOL and DHS are jointly issuing this rule in response to the court's order in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas v. Solis, which vacated portions of DOL's current prevailing wage rate regulation, and to ensure that there is no question that the rule is in effect nationwide in light of other outstanding litigation; and (2) DHS and DOL complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.
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