The department of Labor Employment and Training Administration recently published rules concerning the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). This is the lowest wage that H2A employers must pay workers. This increase is much steeper than in past years. The new wage goes into effect tomorrow, January 9, 2019. IF you are a user of H2A you need to be aware of this change. Any work that takes place starting tomorrow must be paid at the higher rate.

The new rates for NC and VA is $12.25 up from the current $11.46. SC, AL and GA are all $11.13 up from $10.95. Florida actually goes down to $11.24 from $11.29. Remember this is only the wage for H2A employers and NOT a federal minimum wage.

H2A is a last ditch program if you cannot find workers in traditional manner. If you are not an H2A employer, please disregard this article. There only a hand full of gins that use H2A but this is important and we wanted to make sure all of you are aware of this change.

There has been a law suit filed and motion for an injunction to try to stop this from going in but it hasn’t been picked up by the court as of this writing. We hope this will get injoined but right now the new wages go up for work beginning tomorrow. IF this changes, we will update this article. Stay tuned.