OSHA 300A Form Posting Deadline Approaching

As we approach the end of January, I would like to remind our members that the OSHA 300A Form posting deadline is approaching. The OSHA Record Keeping Rule requires employers keep records of all work related injuries and illnesses. This includes the OSHA 300, 300A and 301 forms that employers must have on file. If you do not already have a copy of these forms, they can be accessed through this link OSHA Recordkeeping Forms and Instructions. The 300A Summary of Injuries and Illnesses is the only form that must be posted from Feb. 1 to April 30 of each year. The 300A must be posted in a common area where notices to employees would normally be posted. Be sure to post this form containing work related injury and illness data from calendar year 2024 beginning on February 1, 2025.

It is very important that the OSHA 300A Summary be filled out completely and correctly. In the case that there were no work-related accidents to report, the form must be filled out with zeros in each blank. Often the establishment information is also overlooked and or just not signed. One area of the establishment information that creates some confusion is the area asking about average number of employees and total hours worked. The average number of employees is simply the total number of paychecks written divided by the number of pay periods. This should include all full-time, part-time, temporary, migrant, salaried, and hourly employees.

The other form found at the link above is the OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. This is a log containing information about every work-related death and almost every work-related injury or illness that involves loss of consciousness, restricted work activity or job transfer, days away from work, and/or medical treatment beyond first aid. You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. It is also important to completely fill out the OSHA 300 form. All columns must be totaled even if you had no accident to reports there must be a zero for a total. The information from the OSHA 300 form is used to complete the OSHA 300A form.

This is also a good time to enter your 2024 injury and illness data on the OSHA Web Portal. Any employer with 20 or more employees at any time during the calendar year is required to enter this data electronically. The data entered electronically is essentially the same data contained in the OSHA 300A form. The deadline for electronic submission is March 2, 2025. To access the electronic submission portal simply click this link OSHA Electronic Submission Page

Hopefully, this article will serve as a reminder of what must be reported and posted to be in compliance with OSHA’s Recordkeeping Standard. If OSHA comes to your facility, they will ask to see these forms going back for a period of 5 years. It is important to have the files and data on hand and easily accessible. More information regarding OSHA Recordkeeping can be accessed through OSHA Recordkeeping Rule as well as the 2020 Southeastern Cotton Ginners Safety Reference Manual. If you have any questions please give us a call.

Getting Whiplash Yet?

In a reversal from earlier in the week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated the injunction on the CTA and the Beneficial Ownership Interest reporting. You can’t make this up. The same court that pulled the original injunction has now put it back in place. It is under an expedited hearing process and the court has now decided to keep the previous ‘status-quo’ and put the injunction back in place.

The NFIB has an article on this that you can find here: BOI REPORTING PAUSED AGAIN

You can read the new ruling HERE. It is short.

Sorry for all the back and forth but we wanted to make sure you knew about it as soon as we found out.

DSF

Corporate Transparency Act Revived

In a ruling on December 23, a federal appeals court has reinstated business’ obligations to identify their beneficial ownership under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Businesses that were created prior to the Act’s effective date in January, 2024, are required to report their Beneficial Ownership Interest by January 13. The court is allowing the required registration to continue while the court case challenging the law continues. Earlier this month a court had temporarily stopped the rule from going forward. This ruling reinstates the registration requirements but extending the deadline to January 13 from the original December 31.

Please refer to this article for more information. “Court Revives Corporate Transparency Act and Employers Have New January 13 Reporting Deadline: 3 Things Employers Need to Do

SPLIT Effective Dates for New AEWR in the Southeast

We recently notified you about the upcoming changes in the Adverse Effect Wage Rate for H-2A workers and workers in corresponding employment. The Worker Protection Rule that went into effect earlier this year says that workers will get the updated AEWR upon publication in the Federal Register. That rule was challenged and has a partial injunction on it. That injunction is only in certain states whose attorneys general joined the original lawsuit.

The new AEWR’s were listed in the previous article but for the SE: FL – $16.23; AL, GA and SC – $16.08; and NC, VA – $16.16

Split Effective Dates

Due to the partial injunction, the following states, in the Southeast, effective dates of Publication (Expected December 16, 2024) – Alabama and North Carolina. The others (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia) will be effective 14 days after publication (expected date of December 30, 2024).

StateRateEffective Date*
AL$16.08Dec 16, 2024
FL$16.23Dec 30, 2024
GA$16.08Dec 30, 2024
NC$16.16Dec 16, 2024
SC$16.08Dec 30, 2024
VA$16.16Dec 30, 2024
* Anticipated Publication date of December 16, 2024

If you have H-2A workers on these dates, you will need to update your payroll system to reflect the new rates on those dates for the H-2A and domestic workers in corresponding employment.

DSF

Beneficial Ownership Interest Reporting Blocked by Texas Court

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) that went in to effect earlier this year, requires most businesses to file their Beneficial Ownership Interest (BOI) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by the end of 2024. A court in Texas has granted a temporary injunction against the rule.

This injunction is TEMPORARY and PRELIMINARY meaning that depending on more legal maneuvering in coming days and weeks, the injunction may be lifted and the December 31, 2024 be reinstated. If you were required to file, please consider continuing those efforts and compile the necessary information.

Please refer to the following articles for more information.

Texas District Court Issues National Preliminary Injunction Blocking Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements Under the Corporate Transparency Act.

BREAKING: Federal Court Enjoins Government from Enforcing Corporate Transparency Act

H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate Increasing by over 9% in most SE States.

The Department of Agriculture recently released the Farm Labor Survey (FLS) results for 2024. The FLS is what the Department of Labor uses to set the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for H-2A workers. The law says that use of the H-2A program cannot have an “adverse effect” on domestic workers’ wages. The DoL has decided (it’s not codified) that the floor for wages is the average farm labor wage as indicated in the FLS.

NASS surveys farmers all year at multiple points during the year. The survey has been done since well before the H-2A program and has not formal ties to the program. The survey reflects what farmers are paying. It doesn’t discriminate between producers that have H-2A workers or not but it has become painfully apparent that there is a ratcheting effect that happens as more farmers are forced to use the program. Non program users have to compete and therefore must pay more than the H-2A to keep their employees. It’s a self-fulfilling increasing system.

The H-2A wages will adjust later this month. It doesn’t matter what your contract says if it is set at the current AEWR it will go up when it gets published in the Federal Register. This includes your domestic employees in corresponding employment. We should get a couple of days notice but unlike in previous years it may be in effect immediately upon publication. The 2024 and 2025(expected) Wages are below.

State2024 AEWR2025 AEWR (expected)Percent Change
Alabama$14.68$16.089.54%
Florida$14.77$16.239.88%
Georgia$14.68$16.089.54%
North Carolina$15.81$16.162.21%
South Carolina$14.68$16.089.54%
Virginia$15.81$16.162.21%

Some states did go down. Michigan, Minn and Wisconsin actually went down by almost 2%. Their rates are currently $18.50 and will be dropping to $18.15 but with producers that have workers now or contracts that are approved for 2025, they will be paying the higher rate. You can be forced to go up on your wage but you can’t reduce it lower than your contract.

We expect these rates to be published near the end of December but they can technically be published any time before January 1 and remember they will likely take effect immediately upon publication.

DSF