WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration today issued a proposed rule designed to protect the wages and job opportunities of American workers by stripping away the ability of employers to pay substandard wages to foreign workers in certain visa programs.

The proposed rule would modernize the existing methodology for determining prevailing wage levels in the permanent labor certification, H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visa programs. The updated methodology would use statistically grounded percentile thresholds derived from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey to bring the wages paid to foreign workers in line with wages paid to similarly employed American workers. This much-needed change aims to curb abuse of certain visa programs by reducing the incentive to displace American workers with low-wage foreign visa holders and establishing parity between the wages paid to U.S. workers and foreign workers entering the country on certain employment-based visas.

Existing prevailing wage levels have, for too long, been set dramatically below the market rates which many American workers receive, particularly entry-level Americans and recent college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Because of this, the H-1B program has been distorted by hiring practices that abuse the program to replace their existing American workforce with cheap foreign labor. 

“The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring that American workers are not disadvantaged by unfair wage practices,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “This proposed rule will help ensure that employers pay foreign workers wages that reflect the real market value of their labor, in addition to protecting the wages and job opportunities of American workers. The continued abuse of the H-1B program by certain bad actors will no longer be tolerated.”

Under current law, U.S. employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers through the H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 visa programs must pay foreign workers the higher of the prevailing wage for the area of intended employment or the actual wage rate paid to similarly qualified U.S. workers in the area of intended employment. For employers seeking to hire foreign workers permanently through the permanent labor certification program, employers are required to offer and pay foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for the job opportunity in the area of intended employment. This prevailing wage serves effectively as a wage floor, and an employer must attest that they are offering at least the prevailing wage at the time of filing, that the wage offered during recruitment is at least the prevailing wage, and that the employer will actually pay at least the prevailing wage when a foreign worker begins their employment. 

By seeking to implement these proposed changes, the Department of Labor aspires to improve the correlation between wages paid to foreign workers and those paid to American workers with similar skills and qualifications, reduce the economic incentives to underpay foreign workers and undermine the American workforce, and promote fair competition in the American labor market.

Comments on the proposed rule are due 60 days after publication in the March 27, 2026, edition of the Federal Register. Additional information and technical assistance materials will be available on ETA’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification page.

Read ETA’s notice of proposed rulemaking on prevailing wages for certain visa programs.  

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will hold a hybrid in-person and virtual agricultural seminar to provide guidance on federal laws governing agricultural industry employment for growers, farmers, shippers, contractors, farm labor contractors, buyers, and agricultural workers nationwide.

The division will join other federal agencies to discuss key agricultural labor topics including the H-2A temporary agricultural program, Fair Labor Standards Act, and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

Participating federal agencies include the department’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and others.

Discussions will include overviews of the requirements for wages, housing, transportation, field sanitation, farm labor contractor certification, the H-2A petition process, and more.

The seminar is scheduled for March 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT. Registration is required. 

CALEXICO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a Calexico-based freight and cargo service company after a federal investigation found the employer denied minimum wage and overtime pay to 24 workers, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

The agreement follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found Expresso Forwarding Inc. and its affiliate, Agencia Aduanal Esquer Luken S.C., employed customs brokerage warehouse workers who traveled from Mexico to work at the company’s U.S. warehouse. The employers paid the workers in Mexican pesos at rates that equaled as little as $2.03 per hour, in violation of federal wage requirements. The investigation also found that workers were not paid required overtime rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.  

 “Employers operating in the U.S. must understand that regardless of where they are headquartered, workers who perform work on this side of the border must be paid in accordance with U.S. labor laws,” said Wage and Hour Division Administrator Andrew Rogers. “When a company pays wages in Mexican pesos that fall well below the U.S. minimum wage, it creates an unfair advantage over law-abiding employers and discourages U.S. workers from competing for those jobs. The Department of Labor will continue to use all legal avenues to ensure compliance in this industry."  

After negotiations with the Office of the Solicitor, the employer entered a settlement agreement with the department to pay $1.08 million in back wages and damages to the 24 employees and agreed to comply with the FLSA. Expresso Forwarding Inc. agreed to a payment plan scheduled from Jan. 15, 2026, to Dec. 15, 2026. 

 Over the last five years, the department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered more than $4.8 million in back wages for more than 3,700 warehouse workers. 
 
The FLSA requires that most employees be paid overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

Employers and workers can call the division with questions and requests for compliance assistance at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers are encouraged to use the agency’s industry-specific compliance assistance toolkits to learn about their responsibilities under the laws enforced by the division. The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA, as well as certain potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s free timesheet app for iOS and Android devices to track hours and pay.  

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NAMPA, ID – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $293,698 in back wages for 56 workers employed by a Nampa-based residential construction company after a federal investigation found the employer denied them overtime pay in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Speedy’s Framing LLC paid employees straight time rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek instead of paying the federally mandated overtime premium. The division also found the employer failed to pay travel time for one foreman who drove the employer’s vehicles between the shop and work sites, which resulted in additional unpaid overtime. 

The division recovered back wages for each affected worker ranging between $90 and $32,047. The employer also paid a $24,795 civil money penalty due to the willful nature of the violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to hold employers accountable, particularly when they deliberately attempt to evade the law by denying workers overtime pay,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Katherine Walum in Portland, Oregon. “Federal law protects workers’ rights to be paid their full, earned wages. We encourage employers to contact us for compliance assistance so they can prevent violations.” 

Speedy’s Framing agreed to pay the back wages and to comply with the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements going forward. 

The FLSA requires that most employees be paid overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

Employers and workers can call the division with questions and requests for compliance assistance at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers are encouraged to use the agency’s industry-specific compliance assistance toolkits to learn about their responsibilities under the laws enforced by the division. The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA, as well as certain potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s free timesheet app for iOS and Android devices to track hours and pay.

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division today announced a proposed rule designed to help workers and employers better understand how to determine when a worker is an employee and when the worker may be classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act and related federal laws. 

The proposed rule would rescind the department’s 2024 final rule addressing the classification of independent contractors and replace it with an analysis for employee classification similar to the one adopted by the department in 2021. Consistent with Supreme Court and federal circuit court precedent, the proposed rule would make it easier to properly differentiate between employees with the protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act and those workers who work as independent contractors. 

“The tens of millions of Americans who work as independent contractors are helping drive the Golden Age of the American economy,” said Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “The department’s proposed rule seeks to protect these workers’ entrepreneurial spirit and simplify compliance for American job creators navigating a modern workplace, all while maintaining robust protections for employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” 

The proposed rule would also apply the department’s streamlined analysis to the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, both of which use the FLSA’s statutory definition of “employ.”

“The rule we are proposing today is not only based on long-standing legal principles used in federal courts across the country but also is aimed at ensuring that workers and employers know how to apply those principles predictably,” said Wage and Hour Division Administrator Andrew Rogers. “The department believes that streamlined regulations in line with Congress’s intent when it passed the Fair Labor Standards Act would improve compliance, reduce misclassification, and reduce costly litigation in an economic environment that needs flexibility and innovation.”

The analysis in the department’s proposed rule would: 

• Apply an “economic reality” test to determine whether a worker is in business for himself or herself as an independent contractor or is an employee economically dependent on an employer for work.
• Identify and explain two “core factors” to help determine if a worker is economically dependent on an employer for work or in business for him- or herself:
  • The nature and degree of control over the work.
  • The worker’s opportunity for profit or loss based on initiative and/or investment.
• Identify other factors to help determine a worker’s status as an employee or independent contractor, including the amount of skill required for the work, degree of permanence of the working relationship, and whether the work is part of an integrated unit of production.
• Advise that the actual practice of the worker and the potential employer is more relevant than what may be contractually or theoretically possible.
• Provide eight fact-specific examples applying the factors to real-life circumstances. 

The department encourages all interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule, which has a 60-day comment period that closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 28, 2026. 

Workers and employers can call the Wage and Hour Division with questions and requests for compliance assistance at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA, as well as certain potential violations under the FMLA. 

Read the proposed rule. 

REDWOOD CITY, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with the operator of a Little Caesars restaurant in Redwood City to pay $409,457 in back wages to 32 workers after an investigation found the employer failed to pay them the required minimum wage and overtime, in violation of federal wage law. 

The agreement follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found franchise operator MG Fast Food Inc. violated minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act between May 2022 and May 2025. The division found that the employer failed to pay employees time and one-half overtime rates for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek but instead paid them straight time for those hours. In addition, the employer neglected to pay some employees for all hours worked, resulting in minimum wage violations.

The investigation also found FLSA recordkeeping violations, including discrepancies between timesheet totals and payroll records that affected overtime computations.

“All workers must be paid for every hour they work, including overtime premiums when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director Michael Eastwood in San Jose, California. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to enforce federal law and help ensure workers receive the wages they earn.”

Employers and workers can call the division with questions and requests for compliance assistance at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers are encouraged to use the agency’s industry-specific compliance assistance toolkits to learn about their responsibilities under the laws enforced by the division. The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA, as well as certain potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s free timesheet app for iOS and Android devices to track hours and pay.

DENVER – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation of a full-service restaurant in Aurora found the employer violated federal child labor law and denied 19 chefs, kitchen staff, and other workers their earned overtime pay.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Mt. Fuji Hibachi Inc., doing business as Mt. Fuji Sushi & Hibachi, violated child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act by allowing a 17-year-old to load a trash compactor, a hazardous task prohibited for workers under 18. Investigators also found the employer allowed 14 workers ages 14 and 15 to work later and longer hours than permitted by law. 

Under federal law, children ages 14 and 15 may not work later than 7 p.m. between the day after Labor Day and May 31, or after 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day, and they cannot work more than eight hours per day on a non-school day.

The investigation also revealed the employer failed to pay time and one-half overtime rates to some employees for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek, instead paying them straight time. Mt. Fuji Hibachi also failed to pay some employees any wages for overtime hours worked. In all, overtime violations resulted in the recovery of $20,213 in back wages. 

“Restaurants have a clear legal duty to pay their employees for all hours worked, including overtime, and to provide a safe experience for young workers. The Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting minors and ensuring employers meet their obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director David Skinner.

The employer has paid a $22,249 civil money penalty for the child labor violations in addition to the back wages.

The Department of Labor’s YouthRules initiative provides information about protections for young workers to youth, parents, employers, and educators. Through this initiative, the department and its partners promote work experiences that help prepare young workers to enter the workforce. The Wage and Hour Division has also published Seven Child Labor Best Practices for Employers to help employers comply with the law.

The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential FLSA minimum wage and overtime violations, as well as certain potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool that workers can use if they think they may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s free timesheet app for iOS and Android devices to track hours and pay.

DENVER – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $61,568 in back wages for 11 workers after a federal investigation found a Denver restaurant denied the employees their full tips. 

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated Tommy’s Oriental Food Inc., which operates as Tommy’s Thai, and determined that the employer unlawfully kept all employee tips in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division also found the employer failed to record all hours worked by employees and did not properly display a required FLSA poster.

“Violations like these are all too common in the food service industry. Most restaurant employers are legally obligated to comply with the FLSA, which prohibits employers, including managers and supervisors, from keeping any portion of another’s tips,” said David Skinner, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Denver.

In addition to the back wages, the employer paid a $990 civil money penalty for the violations.

Workers and employers can call the Wage and Hour Division with questions and requests for compliance assistance at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers are encouraged to use the agency’s industry-specific compliance assistance toolkits to learn about their responsibilities under the laws enforced by the division. The agency’s PAID program offers employers an opportunity to self-report and resolve potential FLSA minimum wage and overtime violations, as well as certain potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool that workers can use if they think they may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s free timesheet app for iOS and Android devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division today announced the launch of several compliance assistance resources designed to promote greater compliance with federal labor laws and empower employers with the tools and knowledge they need to prevent violations.

The new tools include a compliance assistance webpage, a video series on the Family and Medical Leave Act, and revamped compliance assistance toolkits for various industries. In addition to encouraging proactive compliance among employers across the country, the resources also provide American businesses and workers with simple, straightforward guidance on understanding federal labor laws.

“The Wage and Hour Division is here to help employers make informed decisions about compliance so they can focus on running their businesses,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Andrew Rogers. “We know that most employers want to follow the law and do right by their employees, so we are eager to offer these new resources to help them understand their obligations. We encourage American businesses and workers to take advantage of the new toolkits and FMLA videos, which are easy to use and available on our website.”

Today’s announcement follows the recent relaunch of the department’s opinion letter program, which expands the department’s longstanding commitment to providing meaningful compliance assistance that helps workers, employers, and other stakeholders understand how federal labor laws apply in specific workplace situations.

The division also offers the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program known as PAID, to help employers self-report and resolve potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and now certain potential violations under the FMLA.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool that workers can use if they think they may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division with questions and requests for compliance assistance through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

WASHINGTON − The U.S. Department of Labor today announced it will hold a free virtual seminar about the recently relaunched Payroll Audit Independent Determination program, which provides employers the opportunity to self-identify and resolve potential minimum wage, overtime, and leave violations under federal labor laws.

The seminar will include a panel discussion with regional and national experts from the department’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Solicitor. The experts will provide an overview of the PAID program and answer questions.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division

What:             Virtual seminar on the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program 

When:             Jan. 22, 2026, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CST     

Where:           Online event. Registration is required.

Originally launched in 2018, PAID has new enhancements, resources, and tools. The program has several of the same objectives as before, including resolving wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and now has expanded to include the Family and Medical Leave Act. PAID assists employers seeking to correct violations efficiently and without any litigation costs, improve compliance, and ensure employees receive FLSA back wages and FMLA remedies quickly.