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

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”

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).

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

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

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.

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

As a follow up from Wednesday’s post regarding Wage and Hour Visits, we wanted to make sure everyone had access to a publication from our friends at Fisher and Phillips.