News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC - May 6, 2010 All H-1B petitions are supported by a Labor Condition Application (LCA), on which the employer attests to the wage to be paid to the H-1B employee. The same is true for H-1B1 and E-3 visas. The LCA does not identify the employee, but it names the employer, the occupation and location (e.g., ABC Corporation, Software Engineer, Mountain View, California), and the rate of pay. According to regulations of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), this information “shall be available for public examination at the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room C-4312, Washington, DC 20210.” 20 C.F.R. 655.760(b).
Although the DOL regulation indicates that the information sits in an office in Washington, DC, employers have discovered that the information is also available online, and is being used by compensation consultants and others. How did this happen?
Since 1994, DOL has contracted with the State of Utah to run the Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) Data Center, a branch of DOL concerned with LCAs for H-1Bs, as well as PERM labor certifications for U.S. permanent residence. The State of Utah has made the LCA wage information available on the FLC Data Center web site since 2001, the first year that a majority of LCAs were submitted in an electronic format. The information is currently available at http://www.flcdatacenter.com/CaseH1B.aspx.
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