DOL Finds for H-1B Physician in Actual Wage Dispute

The US Department of Labor’s has ruled that a physician employee of Southern Illinois University’s hospital was not paid the required actual wage required by the H-1B visa rules. Employers are required to pay higher than both the prevailing wage paid to similarly employed US workers in a local geographic area and the actual wage paid to similarly employed workers actually employed by the H-1B petitioner. The court found that the employer was not acting in bad faith, but nonetheless ordered the physician be paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars in additional wages.