Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 32 / Thursday, February 18, 2010 / Notices 7293 

II. Review Focus: The Department of 

Labor is particularly interested in 

comments which: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

• Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

• Enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

• Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses. 

III. Current Actions: The Department 

of Labor seeks approval for the 

extension of this information collection 

in order to carry out its responsibility to 

determine if requests for reimbursement 

for out-of-pocket expenses incurred 

when traveling to medical providers for 

covered medical testing or treatment 

should be paid. 

Type of Review: Extension. 

Agency: Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs. 

Title: Medical Travel Refund Request. 

OMB Number: 1215–0054. 

Agency Number: CM–957. 

Affected Public: Individual or 

households. 

Total Respondents: 182,535. 

Total Responses: 182,535. 

Time per Response: 10 minutes. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

30,301. 

Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): 

$0. 

Total Burden Cost (operating/ 

maintenance): $85,791. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for Office of 

Management and Budget approval of the 

information collection request; they will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Vincent Alvarez, 

Agency Clearance Officer, Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3046 Filed 2–17–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–CR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employment and Training 

Administration 

Temporary Agricultural Employment of 

H–2A Workers in the United States: 

2010 Adverse Effect Wage Rates, 

Allowable Charges for Agricultural 

Workers’ Meals, and Maximum Travel 

Subsistence Reimbursement 

AGENCY: Employment and Training 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor 

(Department) is issuing this Notice to 

announce the new 2010 Adverse Effect 

Wage Rates (AEWRs) and the 2010 

maximum allowable meal and travel 

subsistence charges applicable to 

employers seeking to employ H–2A 

nonimmigrant workers to perform 

agricultural labor in the United States 

(U.S.) on a temporary or seasonal basis. 

DATES: Effective Date: March 15, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William L. Carlson, PhD, Administrator, 

Office of Foreign Labor Certification, 

U.S. Department of Labor, Room C– 

4312, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: 

202–693–3010 (this is not a toll-free 

number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services of the Department of Homeland 

Security may not approve an employer’s 

petition for the admission of H–2A 

nonimmigrant temporary agricultural 

workers in the U.S. unless the petitioner 

has received from the Department, an 

H–2A temporary labor certification. 

Approved labor certifications attest that: 

(1) There are not sufficient U.S. workers 

who are able, willing, and qualified and 

who will be available at the time and 

place needed to perform the labor or 

services involved in the petition; and (2) 

the employment of the foreign worker in 

such labor or services will not adversely 

affect the wages and working conditions 

of workers in the U.S. similarly 

employed. 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a), 

1184(c)(1), and 1188(a); 8 CFR 

214.2(h)(5). 

To ensure that the two preconditions 

to certification are met, the 

Department’s H–2A regulations require, 

among other things, that employers offer 

and pay their H–2A and U.S. workers 

the highest of the AEWR, the prevailing 

hourly wage rate, the prevailing piece 

rate, the agreed-upon collective 

bargaining rate, or the Federal or State 

minimum wage rate, in effect at the time 

work is performed, whichever is 

highest. 20 CFR 655.122(l). 

B. Adverse Effect Wage Rates for 2010 

The AEWR serves as the floor for the 

agricultural wage rates in the H–2A 

program and is designed to prevent the 

potential wage-depressive impact the 

agricultural employment of 

nonimmigrant foreign workers may have 

on the domestic agricultural workforce. 

Since 1953, the Department has 

computed and published AEWRs for the 

temporary employment of 

nonimmigrant foreign workers for 

agricultural employment under various 

admission programs. Between 1963 and 

1987, the Department applied a variety 

of methodologies to determine how 

AEWR should be set. In 1989, the 

Department promulgated an Interim 

Final Rule (IFR) reaffirming the AEWR 

calculation methodology it initially 

established in the 1987 IFR that 

promulgated the first H–2A program 

regulations. 54 FR 28037, Jul. 5, 1989 

and 52 FR 20496, Jun. 1, 1987. In the 

1989 IFR, the Department retained the 

methodology that based the AEWRs on 

the level of actual average hourly 

agricultural wages for each State, as 

surveyed by the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA). This methodology 

set the AEWRs in each year for the 

H–2A program at a level equal to the 

previous year’s annual regional average 

hourly wage rates for field and livestock 

workers (combined), as computed by 

USDA quarterly wage surveys. 54 FR 

28037–28039, Jul. 5, 1989. The USDAbased methodology for calculating the 

AEWRs remained in place until January 

17, 2009, the effective date of the 

Department’s Final Rule on the 

Temporary Agricultural Employment of 

H–2A Aliens in the United States; 

Modernizing the Labor Certification 

Process and Enforcement, in which the 

Department adopted a different 

methodology that set the AEWRs at 

prevailing wage rates by relying on the 

Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational 

Employment Statistics survey. 73 FR 

77110, 77167, Dec. 18, 2008. 

However, the Department has now 

published a Final Rule addressing the 

Temporary Agricultural Employment of 

H–2A Aliens in the United States, 75 FR 

6884, February 12, 2010 (2010 Final 

Rule). In the 2010 Final Rule, the 

Department announced that the H–2A 

AEWR will once again be based on the 

USDA data compiled through its Farm 

Labor Survey (FLS) Reports. 

Therefore, unless otherwise provided 

in 20 CFR part 655, subpart B, the 

AEWRs applicable to all agricultural 

employment subject to the 2010 Final 

Rule (except those occupations for 

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7294 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 32 / Thursday, February 18, 2010 / Notices 

which special procedures for wages 

have been established pursuant to 8 

U.S.C. 1188 and 20 CFR 655.102) for 

which temporary H–2A certifications 

are being sought will be the annual 

average of combined crop and livestock 

workers’ wages applicable for each State 

as reported by the USDA FLS reports. 

The Department’s regulations at 20 

CFR 655.120(c) require the Office of 

Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) to 

publish at least once in each calendar 

year the AEWR for each State as a 

Notice in the Federal Register. 

Accordingly, the 2010 AEWRs for 

agricultural work performed by U.S. and 

H–2A workers hired pursuant to an 

H–2A application subject to the 2010 

Rule on and/or after the effective date of 

this Notice are set forth in the table 

below: 

TABLE—2010 ADVERSE EFFECT WAGE

RATES

State 2010 AEWR 

Alabama .................................... $9.11 

Arizona ...................................... 9.71 

Arkansas ................................... 9.10 

California ................................... 10.25 

Colorado ................................... 10.06 

Connecticut ............................... 10.16 

Delaware ................................... 9.94 

Florida ....................................... 9.20 

Georgia ..................................... 9.11 

Hawaii ....................................... 11.45 

Idaho ......................................... 9.90 

Illinois ........................................ 10.51 

Indiana ...................................... 10.51 

Iowa .......................................... 10.86 

Kansas ...................................... 10.66 

Kentucky ................................... 9.71 

Louisiana .................................. 9.10 

Maine ........................................ 10.16 

Maryland ................................... 9.94 

Massachusetts .......................... 10.16 

Michigan ................................... 10.57 

Minnesota ................................. 10.57 

Mississippi ................................ 9.10 

Missouri .................................... 10.86 

Montana .................................... 9.90 

Nebraska .................................. 10.66 

Nevada ..................................... 10.06 

New Hampshire ........................ 10.16 

New Jersey ............................... 9.94 

New Mexico .............................. 9.71 

New York .................................. 10.16 

North Carolina .......................... 9.59 

North Dakota ............................ 10.66 

Ohio .......................................... 10.51 

Oklahoma ................................. 9.78 

Oregon ...................................... 10.85 

Pennsylvania ............................ 9.94 

Rhode Island ............................ 10.16 

South Carolina .......................... 9.11 

South Dakota ............................ 10.66 

Tennessee ................................ 9.71 

Texas ........................................ 9.78 

Utah .......................................... 10.06 

Vermont .................................... 10.16 

Virginia ...................................... 9.59 

Washington ............................... 10.85 

TABLE—2010 ADVERSE EFFECT WAGE

RATES—Continued 

State 2010 AEWR 

West Virginia ............................ 9.71 

Wisconsin ................................. 10.57 

Wyoming ................................... 9.90 

C. Allowable Meal Charges 

The Department’s regulations at 20 

CFR 655.122(g) require the employer to 

provide each worker with three meals a 

day (for which it is permitted to charge 

the workers) or free and convenient 

cooking and kitchen facilities. When the 

employer provides meals to its workers, 

it must state in the job offer the meal 

charge, if any, the employer will impose 

on the workers for the meals provided. 

The amount of the meal charges, if any, 

is governed by 20 CFR 655.173. 

The 2010 Final Rule at 20 CFR 

655.173 sets the maximum allowable 

amount that an H–2A agricultural 

employer may charge its U.S. and 

foreign workers for providing three 

meals per day. This section of the 2010 

Final Rule also provides for annual 

adjustments of the previous year’s 

allowable charges based upon the 

12-month percentage change for the 

Consumer Price Index for Urban 

Consumers for Food (CPI–U for Food) 

between December of the year just 

concluded and December of the year 

prior to that. 

Under 20 CFR 655.173(a) an H–2A 

employer may charge workers no more 

than the maximum amount set forth in 

that paragraph, unless the employer 

petitions the Certifying Officer and 

receives a favorable decision under 20 

CFR 655.173(b) to charge a higher 

amount. The Department’s H–2A 

regulations require the OFLC 

Administrator to publish a Notice in the 

Federal Register each calendar year, 

announcing annual adjustments in 

allowable meal charges applicable to 

H–2A employers who provide three 

meals per day to their U.S. and 

nonimmigrant foreign workers. The 

2009 rates were published in the 

Federal Register at 74 FR 26016, May 

29, 2009. 

The Department has determined the 

percentage change between December of 

2008 and December of 2009 for the 

CPI–U for Food was 1.8 percent. 

Accordingly, the maximum allowable 

charge under 20 CFR 655.173 was 

adjusted using this percentage change, 

and the new permissible charge for 2010 

will be no more than $10.64 per day. 

D. Maximum Travel Subsistence 

Expense 

The regulations at 20 CFR 655.122(h) 

establish that the minimum daily travel 

subsistence expense, for which a worker 

is entitled to reimbursement, is 

equivalent to the employer’s daily 

charge for three meals or, if the 

employer makes no charge, the amount 

permitted under 20 CFR 655.173. The 

regulation is silent about the maximum 

amount to which a qualifying worker is 

entitled. 

The Department based the maximum 

meals component on the standard 

Continental United States (CONUS) per 

diem rate established by the General 

Services Administration (GSA) and 

published at 41 CFR part 301, Appendix 

A. The CONUS meal component is now 

$46.00 per day. 

Workers who qualify for travel 

reimbursement are entitled to 

reimbursement up to the CONUS meal 

rate for related subsistence when they 

provide receipts. In determining the 

appropriate amount of subsistence 

reimbursement, the employer may use 

the GSA system under which a traveler 

qualifies for meal expense 

reimbursement at 75 percent of the 

subsistence for the first partial day of 

travel and 75 percent of the subsistence 

for the last partial day. 

If a worker has no receipts, the 

employer is not obligated to reimburse 

above the minimum stated at 20 CFR 

655.173(a) as specified above. 

Signed in Washington, DC, this 12th day of 

February 2010. 

Jane Oates, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment and 

Training Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3078 Filed 2–17–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P 

NATIONAL CREDIT UNION 

ADMINISTRATION 

Sunshine Act; Notice of Agency 

Meeting 

TIME AND DATE: 10 a.m., Thursday, 

February 18, 2010. 

PLACE: Board Room, 7th Floor, Room 

7047, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 

22314–3428. 

STATUS: Open. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

1. Board Briefing. Interim Final 

Rule—Section 701.34 of NCUA’s Rules 

and Regulations, Secondary Capital 

Accounts for Low-Income Credit 

Unions. 

2. Insurance Fund Report. 

RECESS: 11 a.m. 

WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES