H-2A recordkeeping requirements, explained

What H-2A records do employers have to keep?

H-2A employers must keep accurate and adequate records of each worker's earnings and hours under 20 CFR 655.122(j). For every worker, the records have to show:

• Field tally records and supporting summary payroll records.
• The nature and amount of the work performed.
• The hours of work offered each day, split between hours offered under the three-fourths guarantee and hours offered above it.
• The hours actually worked each day.
• The time the worker began and ended each workday.
• The rate of pay, both piece rate and hourly if both are used.
• The worker's earnings per pay period.
• The worker's permanent address.
• The amount of and reasons for every deduction from wages.

If a worker works fewer hours than were offered, the records must say why: the worker declined, left early, was sick. The records have to be kept safe and accessible at the worksite or a central office, available to the Department of Labor and to the worker or their representative. If they're kept at a central office, they must be produced within 72 hours of notice.

Hours offered vs. hours worked

You need both numbers because they answer different questions. Hours worked decide what you pay each pay period. Hours offered decide whether you met the three-fourths guarantee over the whole contract.

A worker who's offered 8 hours, works 6 and goes home sick has 6 hours worked and 8 hours offered, but only if your records show the offer and the reason. Under 655.122(i)(3), hours a worker fails to work after being offered them can count toward the guarantee, up to the job order's hours for that workday, and the employer has to keep payroll records that support the calculation. Many H-2A disputes come down to this: the work was offered, but nothing written shows it.

How the three-fourths guarantee works

The employer must guarantee to offer each worker employment for a total number of hours equal to at least three-fourths of the workdays in the contract period (655.122(i)). In practice it's an hours calculation:

• The period runs from the first workday after the worker arrives at the place of employment, or the advertised first date of need if that's later, to the end date in the work contract or its extensions.
• A workday means the number of hours in a workday stated in the job order. The worker's Sabbath and federal holidays are excluded.
• The guarantee is three-fourths of the total: workdays × job-order hours per day × 0.75.
• What counts toward it: all hours actually worked, including voluntary extra hours, plus hours offered that the worker didn't work, up to the job-order hours for each day.
• If you fall short, you pay the worker what they would have earned for the guaranteed hours. For piece-rate workers, use the worker's average hourly piece-rate earnings or the required hourly wage, whichever is higher.

The regulation includes its own example: a 10-week contract with a job order of 6 days a week and 8 hours a day has 480 hours, so the guarantee is 360 hours.

There are exceptions. A worker who voluntarily abandons the job or is terminated for cause isn't owed the guarantee if the employer notifies the Department of Labor (and, for H-2A workers, DHS) within 2 working days (655.122(n)). If fire, weather or another act of God makes the contract impossible to finish and DOL agrees, the guarantee applies only to the period that has passed (655.122(o)).

Worked example: checking the guarantee

A grower's contract runs 12 weeks. The job order says 6 days a week, with Sunday as the workers' Sabbath, and 8 hours a day. July 4 falls on a Monday inside the period.

Two things decide whether this worker is owed $288 or more: whether the 15 declined hours were written down when they were offered, and whether rain days were recorded as "no work offered" rather than left blank. If the declined hours weren't documented, the shortfall is 31 hours, or $558. The $18.00 rate is only for illustration; use the wage your job order requires.

Earnings statements every payday

On or before each payday, give every worker a written statement (655.122(k)) that shows:

• Total earnings for the pay period.
• The hourly rate, the piece rate, or both.
• The hours of employment offered, with hours offered under the guarantee shown separately from any hours offered above it.
• The hours actually worked.
• An itemized list of every deduction.
• The units produced each day, if the worker is paid by the piece.
• The beginning and ending dates of the pay period.
• The employer's name, address and FEIN.

Workers must be paid at least twice a month, or more often if that's the prevailing practice in the area (655.122(m)).

How long to keep H-2A records

Keep the earnings and hours records for at least 3 years after the date of the labor certification (655.122(j)(4)). FLSA and state recordkeeping rules can apply alongside the H-2A rules, and some require different or longer periods; see FLSA recordkeeping requirements. Agricultural work is generally exempt from federal overtime, but several states, including California, New York and Washington, now require overtime for farmworkers, which adds its own records.

A daily record that holds up

The easiest way to meet 655.122(j) is to capture everything on the day it happens. A daily log per worker or crew can look like this:

Paper works if it's filled in daily; a printable crew timesheet is a starting point. What doesn't work is reconstructing a week of start and end times from memory on payday.

Where a time clock helps, and where it doesn't

A time clock solves the hours-worked half. When the crew boss scans each worker's badge at the start and end of the day, you get exact start and end times and daily hours for every worker, stamped with where each scan happened. Badges also suit crews who don't carry smartphones or don't read English well, since nobody has to use an app; see time clocks for employees without smartphones.

A time clock doesn't record the hours you offered, the reasons for any shortfall or piece-rate units. Those need their own daily record, such as an offer log signed by the crew boss, and the earnings statement has to combine both.

TrackBadges handles the first part: a printed QR badge for every worker, scanned by the crew boss's phone, with daily and weekly totals and a CSV export you can combine with your offer log and payroll. It doesn't track hours offered, piece rates or earnings statements, so keep those in your payroll system.