Apparently undeterred by prior litigation striking it down, the
Department of Labor (DOL) has published another rule in
the Federal Register raising minimum wages for
high-skilled workers. The
"Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and
Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United
States" Rule (Wage Protection Rule) will go into
effect on March 15, 2021 and will start to affect H-1B, H-1B1, and
E-3 work visa cases, as well as PERM filings in July 2021.
Employers sponsoring individuals in these types of cases must
affirm that they will pay the appropriate prevailing wage as
determined by DOL. There are four DOL wage levels. The minimum
wages for each level are based on the DOL's calculation of the
local median salary for a specific position. In the October 8,
2020, iteration of the Wage Protection Rule, Level I was changed
from the 17th Percentile to
45th Percentile. Level II moved from the
34th Percentile to the 62nd. Level III
went from the 50th