TODOS LOS TRABAJADORES Si deseas continuar trabajando en los Estados Unidos con otra compañia diferente cuando tu empleo actual termine, deberas crear una cuenta con https://www.h2jobboard.com/ . Si creaste una cuentas con anterioriada, que ha sido borrada, necesitas crear una nueva cuenta. Si viajas a casa al final de tu actual temporada y quieres regresar a la misma compañia ( o a alguna compañia diferente) en la siguiente temporada, necesitas tambien crear una cuenta con https://www.h2jobboard.com/ Despues de crear tu cuenta, por favor utilize la informacion de contacto hubicada del website para avisar al H2BJobsBoard Team que te has registrado. Proporcione detalles asi como sus intenciones, por ejemplo” Me encuentro en casa en Honduras, trabaje para Chicken Charlies en 2025 y quiero regresar a trabajar con Chicken Charlies en 2026”. Te puedes comunicar con el Equipo H2BJobsTeam via el contacto mostrado o via WhatsApp 1508156939 o via correo electronico h2advocate@H2Jobboard.com Si eres de Mexico y originamente aplicas en la oficina de Tlapacoyan, tan pronto regreses a casa, favor de llevar su pasaporte valido a la oficina.
ALL WORKERS If you wish to continue working in the USA with another employer when your current employment ends, you should set up an account with https://www.h2jobboard.com/ If you previously established an account, that has been deleted, and you need to set up a new account. If you are going home at the end of the current season and you want to return to work for the same company (or a different company) next season you need to also set up an account with https://www.h2jobboard.com/ After you set up your account, please use the contact feature of the website to advise the H2JobsBoard Team that you have signed up. Provide details as to your intentions, such as “I am now home in Honduras, I worked for Chicken Charlie’s in 2025 and I want to return to Chicken Charlie’s in 2026”. You can communicate with the H2JobsTeam via the Contact Feature, or via WhatsApp 15108156936 or via email h2advocate@H2Jobboard.com If you are from Mexico and originally applied with the Office in Tlapacoyan – as soon as you return home, please bring your valid passport to that office.
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Download H-2B Employer Obligations https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:va6c2:ffe886ea-f8fc-4225-8e13-c4e250b40f55 2015 DOL H-2B Interim Final Rule The following information is required to be maintained by each employer regarding their H-2B employees. Paragraph 2 describes the information that must be provided in writing to each H-2B employee on or before each payday. 20 C.F.R. 655.20 (i) Earnings statements. (1) The employer must keep accurate and adequate records with respect to the workers' earnings, including but not limited to: • Records showing the nature, amount and location(s) of the work performed; • the number of hours of work offered each day by the employer (broken out by hours offered both in accordance with and over and above the three-fourths guarantee in paragraph (f) of this section) ; • the hours actually worked each day by the worker; if the number of hours worked by the worker is less than the number of hours offered, the reason(s) the worker did not work; • the time the worker began and ended each workday; • the rate of pay (both piece rate and hourly, if applicable); • the worker's earnings per pay period; • the worker's home address; and • the amount of and reasons for any and all deductions taken from or additions made to the worker's wages. (2) The employer must furnish to the worker on or before each payday in one or more written statements the following information: (i) The worker's total earnings for each workweek in the pay period; (ii) The worker's hourly rate and/or piece rate of pay; (iii) For each workweek in the pay period the hours of employment offered to the worker (showing offers in accordance with the three-fourths guarantee as determined in paragraph (f) of this section, separate from any hours offered over and above the guarantee); (iv) For each workweek in the pay period the hours actually worked by the worker; (v) An itemization of all deductions made from or additions made to the worker's wages; (vi) If piece rates are used, the units produced daily; (vii) The beginning and ending dates of the pay period; and (viii) The employer's name, address and FEIN. NOTE: Through Fiscal Year 2023 , the Department of Labor is prohibited from enforcing the 3/4 guarantee requirement contained in the H-2B regulations.
URGENT: CONSULAR PROCESSING DELAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION UPDATES Many have asked if there will be problems with H2B employers being able to have their H2B workers arrive in a timely manner. US AID funding has been cut off. This means that many of the agencies that assisted with processing of workers in the TED Countries (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Costa Rica, Ecuador & Columbia) have lost their funding. Staffs may have been cut from 60 employees down to 3 or 4, and the 3 or 4 that are there have no training or experience. The Trump Administration has been consistent in saying that those that follow the rules will not have issues but those that do not follow the rules will have issues. The Administration has mandated that the consulates worldwide must stop the covid era practices of not conducting in-person interviews. Starting about 5 years ago (with the start of Covid) only a tiny percentage of workers were required to attend in-person interviews at the consulates. Starting about a week ago, nearly all workers will need an in-person interview at the consulate, whether they are new or returning workers. The consular officers are reviewing the job descriptions and asking questions such as: Are these the exact duties that you performed? (If the workers were drivers, and they were not on a petition that specifically stated they were CDL drivers and were to be paid the higher CDL wage, this raises a red flag). Did the employer pay you by the hour? (If not, then this raises a red flag). Did the employer pay you for every hour worked? (If not, this raises a red flag). Did the employer pay you overtime? (If not, this raises a red flag). Did you receive a pay record each week for your records? (If not, this raises a red flag). Did you receive a W-2 tax record at the end of the season? (If not, this raises a red flag). Please describe the general working conditions with the employer. The workers are told that if they do not tell the truth, they will not get a visa issued and they will not be eligible for a visa for several years (which is true). The overall theme is that processing for all workers in all consulates will take more time. Because there will be more interviews, the consulates will process fewer applications per day. Each worker will be required to spend more time (at least one additional day) in the consulate city. If there are red flags (as indicated above) there will be additional delays. If there are too many red flags, petitions can be “remanded” by any consular officer back to the USCIS , effectively cancelling the petition for the season. This means that employers will not get any workers at all – because by the time the situation is resolved, your season will probably have ended. If you need your workers to arrive on a certain day, let’s say March 15th. You should ask for them to arrive about 10 days earlier (say March 5th) in case there are delays. However, if you are LUCKY and the workers visas are issued on March 5th, you CANNOT THEN SAY WE DON’T NEED THEM UNTIL MARCH 15th. Workers are not cans of peas – we can’t just put them back on the shelf and have them wait 10 days to travel. You will have to accept the workers to arrive early and you need to put them to work and pay them as soon as they arrive. This is not an exact science – employers MUST be flexible and provide at least a 10-day window of opportunity as to when you are able to accept the workers – the first possible day and the DROP DEAD date. We know that this may not be “convenient” but it is how it has to be.
SEE YOU IN FLORIDA!!! NICA & OABA & SLA & IISA Together Again JKJ Workforce Agency, Inc., will again participate (to the extent that we can and still be available for past, present and future clients) in the activities of the industry trade and social organizations. Cathy Mize will be at the NICA Fare Foods Show (5 to 9 on Monday). On Tuesday, James Judkins, Cathy Mize, Leon Sequeira, Mary Coronado and Grey Delaney will be at our Booth at the IISA Trade Show in Gibsonton from 9 to 5 pm. You can drop on by – or schedule and appointment by emailing James.K.Judkins@JKJWorkforce.com . We will race back to Tampa, and will be at the NICA Fair Foods Food Show from 5 pm to 9 pm. On Wednesday, we will be at our booth at the IISA Trade Show from 9 to 5 pm. From 1:00 to 3:00 PM, JKJ Workforce in conjunction with the Small Business Workforce Alliance, and Attorney Leon Sequeira with Sequeira Bilby will be conducting a forum covering a variety of Topics at the CAROUSEL PAVLILION. SCHEDULED TOPICS Ring #1: Modernizing H-2 Program Requirements, Oversite, and Worker Protections. Ring #2: Will the neutering of USAID hurt or help? Ring #3: Workers that JKJ Facilitates in Processing MUST follow JKJ Guidelines Ring #4: What is the difference between a CERTIFICATION and a PETITION? UR / RW / TED Ring #5: H-2B Quirks – additional rule changes SIDESHOW: Quit your Bitchin! It is just a waste of time and energy!! Fix it!! AFTER SHOW: Questions? Concerns? Comments? Answers? From 3:00 to 4:00 PM, Mary Coronado with Ezy Payroll & JKJ Workforce will conduct a seminar and Q&L seminar on “Turnkey Compliance for the Mobile Entertainment Industry”. I am honored to be the recipient of the OABA Pioneer Award for 2025. I will be attending the 3-4 pm reception honoring the 2025 Hall of Fame and Pioneer Recipients at the IISA Carnival Museum, Second Floor. I will follow this by attending the OABA social Hour from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, back at the Carousel Pavilion. Thursday and Friday, we will be at our Booth at the IISA Trade Show in Gibsonton from 9 to 5 pm. Drop on by, or schedule an appointment by emailing James.K.Judkins@JKJWorkforce.com
There is so much going on in the H-2B program, short term and long term. Even if you are an employer who has been in the H-2B program you may be confused. If you are a new employer in the program, your head is probably spinning. Our monthly Humpday Zoom Call has been rescheduled for this Wednesday January 8, at 12 noon central time. Please read this entire email, please feel free to log on to the Zoom Call to ask any questions you may have in general or for your company. I would recommend that all employers log on for this Humpday Zoom Call and I would hope that you take the time to completely read this entire email at least once. CLICK HERE TO JOIN ZOOM - WEDNESDAY 12 NOON CENTRAL The topics that will be covered below are: SECOND HALF OF THE FISCAL YEAR FILINGS – WHAT GROUP ARE YOU IN AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN? FIRST HALF OF THE FISCAL YEAR FILINGS – SUPPLEMENTAL VISA FILING CONSULAR PROCESSING – ALL COUNTRIES CARE ACT & THE DOL DEEP STATE SECOND HALF OF THE FISCAL YEAR FILINGS – WHAT GROUP ARE YOU IN AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN? There are only 33,000 H-2B visas available as part of the annual limit or CAP that have been authorized by Congress for each year since 1992. Typically, there are applications requesting labor certification for at least 130,000 H-2B visas filed with a start date of April 1 each year. Because of this, the Department of Labor has established a lottery system for all of the requests for Labor Certification that are submitted during the three day period of January 1 to January 3, each year. The Department of Labor takes all of the applications for Labor Certification (ETA Form 9142) and randomly puts them into groups. The department starts processing Group A first, then moves to Group B, then Group C…. and so on. It does not mean that they complete Group A, and they are all certified or denied before they move to the next group. The DOL’s benchmark is “first action” which means the issuance of either a Notice of Deficiency or a Notice of Acceptance. A Notice of Acceptance (NOA) means that in the view of the Certifying Officer, the application seems to be in order, and the agent / employer can move to the next step, which is the recruitment process (recruitment of any and all available US workers through the SWA). A Notice of Deficiency (NOD) means that in the view of the Certifying Officer, there is something in the application that the Certifying Officer feels is not in keeping with the Regulatory Framework. Many of the NOD’s issued are absurd. Typically we are able to respond to them the same day, but it may take the Certifying Officer a week or more before they take action on the response. Group A consists of labor certificate applications that would total approximately 35,000 worker slots. Group B consists of labor certificate applications that would total approximately 20,000 worker slots. Group C and each following group (D, E, F, G) consists of labor certificate applications that would total approximately 20,000 worker slots in each group. This means that if you are in Group G, then there will be applications for 135,000 worker slots in front of you in line. After USCIS says that they have received enough petitions to use up all of the initial 33,000 visas they stop accepting any more applications. There is something called the “float”. Because US CIS has no real way of knowing exactly how many approved visa slots will be utilized and result in a worker obtaining a visa and commencing employment in the USA, they use their opinion to state when they think they need to stop accepting petitions. If they have a generous float (as in the Biden Administration) then the cap may hit later and include a higher number than if they have a stingy float (as in the first Trump Administration) and the cap may hit sooner than it has in the last four years. After the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS or USDHS) announces that the cap has hit they return all of the petitions that are received at their offices after that date. Then the regulations included in the Supplemental Visa Rule kick in. When the DHS announces that the statutory cap (first 33,000) has hit, they will state that 19,000 visas limited to returning workers (workers who were issued H-2B visas in FY24, FY23, FY22) will be made available. They will announce the date that they will start accepting those applications (which will be 15 calendar days after they announce that the cap has hit. What complicates this for everyone is that these visas will be only available for employers who have a date of need starting on or after April 1, 2025, through and including May 14, 2025. What complicates this even more is: If an employer has filed with DOL with a date of need in March, and the first half of the fiscal year returning worker limit has been used up, then the labor certification can only be used for porting of in-status H-2B workers in the USA and/or workers from countries that have been Targeted for Economic Development (TED): Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Costa Rica, Ecuador and/or Columbia. If an employer filed with DOL with a date of need of April 1, and the DOL drags their feet in certification of the labor application, and it is not certified until after May 14, 2025, then the certification can only be used for the third allocation of 5,000 Returning Workers. So much depends upon how quickly the DOL processes applications AND what the new Trump Administration handles the “float” as detailed earlier, that there are NO precise answers on what it means if you are in Group A, B, C, D, E, F, G…. Historically, JKJ Workforce Agency has been able to get most of the A & B groups across the finish line to beat the cap for the unrestricted visas (the original 33,000 for new or returning workers from any country eligible to participate in the H-2B program). The first step is being Certified by the USDOL – this does NOT mean you are approved for your workers, and you are good to go. All this means is that we can now go to the next step and file one (or more) petitions for your company based upon the underlying labor certification. Historically, JKJ Workforce Agency has been able to get most of the C & D groups across the finish line to beat the returning worker supplemental cap. And E, F & G is a crap shoot. Sorry to say. Which is why we need to set up individual zoom calls with each of our employers starting the week of January 13th to discuss your individual worker needs and expectations. If you are an employer who had workers last year, please email a list of all of the workers you want back this year and when you want them back. Requests for Zoom Calls AND lists of the workers need to be emailed only to James.K.Judkins@JKJWorkforce.com and not to any other contact with JKJ. FIRST HALF OF THE FISCAL YEAR FILINGS SUPPLEMENTAL VISA FILING We have 22 companies that have been certified by the DOL and we have not yet filed with DHS for the first half of the fiscal year. We have 55 companies in the various states of the certification process with DOL, and we cannot file with DHS until the DOL issues the Certifications. The Seasonal Employment Alliance has indicated that there are significant processing delays with the DOL and has been working to try to get the DOL to clear up their backlog. The DOL always says the same thing – they are doing their best, but they need more funding from Congress. The point is – for these 77 companies – I will be reaching out to you via email in the next 2-3 days so we have a plan on filing – either Returning Workers (RW), workers from the zones Targeted for Economic Development (TED), or porting or a combination of these options. Please respond as quickly as possible to the emails. A reminder to all companies. The DHS complicated the fee structure last April 1. There is one set of fees (higher) for Large Companies, and a different set of fees (lower) for Small Companies. This is why we need you to send us copies of your last filed Federal Form 941, so we can see if we can get your petition filed with the lower fees. If we do not have Federal Form 941, then we will simply file your company as a large company and the higher fees. Most of the companies are going to have to apply for Supplemental Visas (either in the first or second half of the year). If you file for Supplemental Visas, then there is an excellent chance that you will be audited by DHS and/or DOL. To document your severe financial loss in case you are audited we need copies of all of your 2024 and 2025 contracts. Please email these to James.K.Judkins@JKJWorkforce.com ASAP. We have already filed 131 petitions for the first half of the fiscal year supplemental visas. Last year the first half of the fiscal year cap for Returning Workers was met on January 9, 2024, with the announcement being made on January 12, 2024. La guess is that the first half of the fiscal year returning worker supplemental visa cap will hit about January 17, 2024. CONSULAR PROCESSING – ALL COUNTRIES To process workers at US Consulates, appointments and fees have to be made through the online systems in place. The TED countries are now set up for processing similar to Mexico, so we will be able to more precisely schedule workers – and provide better time frames and estimates on when workers will be processed and be able to travel. This year it appears that many consular officers took vacation time in late December and early January. There were no consular appointments available from December 26 through January 3, with the first appointments (limited) opening up on January 6th. We are using 3 different consulates in Mexico and 4 different consulates in Latin America. We have over 300 workers currently traveling to start employment for various companies and are working on the scheduling and transportation of several hundred more. If you have not already emailed your list of returning workers and when you need them to start work, please email to James.K.Judkins@JKJWorkforce.com CARE ACT & THE DOL DEEP STATE As you all should know, the OABA, NICA, IAFE as well as others have been working diligently on the CARE act and the RIDE act. https://oaba.org/pageserver/care-act I anticipated some issues from the more radical (left and right) members of Congress and radical worker’s rights attorneys. However it appears that the DOL Deep State has started (since late September) working to sabotage the CARE and RIDE acts. One of the assumptions of the act is that the job codes and prevailing wages for workers in the mobile entertainment industry are “settled” based upon decades of consistency. However, since September the DOL has been messing with the Prevailing Wage Determination Requests. Some have been issued with extremely inappropriate job categories and wages that are 50% to 100% higher than previously determined. Some have been returned without being adjudicated because the Department cannot determine the correct job classification, without knowing in detail what each worker will be doing. In my opinion, this appears to be an effort to muddy the waters, to sabotage the efforts, to obtain clear and consistent State Wide and/or Regional Wages, and to have the visas processed as per “P” regulations, and for the DOL to try to pull the “P-4” into the same regulatory mess and confusion that surrounds the H-2B. JOIN US THIS WEDNESDAY FOR ZOOM Our monthly Humpday Zoom Call has been rescheduled for this Wednesday January 8, at 12 noon central time. Please read this entire email, please feel free to log on to the Zoom Call to ask any questions you may have in general or for your company. I would recommend that all employers log on for this Humpday Zoom Call and I would hope that you take the time to completely read this entire email at least once. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87275539517?pwd=bDVIZnQ4NXJCdkVsdlZJaldzbFhWdz09
