The H-1B Required Wage

Temple must pay H-1B employees the H-1B Required Wage - this is the higher of both the Prevailing Wage as determined by the US Department of Labor and the Actual Wage.

The actual wage is the "wage rate paid by the employer to all other individuals with experience and qualifications similar to those of the H-1B nonimmigrant, for the specific employment in question." The "actual wage" for LCA purposes is not an average of the wage rates an employer pays to all workers employed in the occupation, but rather a listing of wages paid, usually tending to form a wage range. The employer's wage rate placed in section F of the LCA must be consistent with the employer's actual wage rate determination, and be equal to or exceed the prevailing wage rate.

ISSS cannot begin the H-1B Application Process without an accurately-completed Actual Wage Worksheet. 

Comparing Similarly-Employed Workers’ salaries to Applicant’s salary 

The Actual Wage Form requires a list of all employees in your department that hold the same job title the applicant will hold as of the Requested Start date.  Use an additional sheet if necessary. Contact sharonl@temple.edu if there are no comparable employees.

The same criteria must be used for all relevant employees, including how you calculate experience. Limited grant or department funding, a lower negotiated salary or market conditions cannot be used to justify paying the applicant a lower salary.

Acceptable reasons for paying a similarly-employed worker more than the Applicant:

• Employee has more relevant work experience than applicant
• Employee has specialized knowledge relevant to the field
• Employee has higher educational credentials than applicant
• Employee does not work same number of hours as applicant
• Employee performs more duties or has more responsibility than applicant

Unacceptable reasons for paying a similarly-employed worker more than the Applicant:

• Salary compression/inversion   
• TU salary freeze resulted in different pay
• Funded by different grant
• Department had more money before
• Different area of research
• Another employee demanded a higher salary
• Applicant is willing to work for less money
• Applicant would be paid less in home country
• Another employee is paid more due to abilities or qualifications irrelevant to the position