Employers wishing to file labor certifications on behalf of their employees must follow strict recruiting guidelines set by the Department of Labor (DOL). One of the required recruitment steps is posting an online job order with the appropriate State Workforce Agency (SWA) for a period of 30 days. The regulation regarding how to record posting of the job order says “[t]he start and end dates of the job order entered on [Form ETA-9089] serve as documentation of this step.” See 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e)(2)(i).

Employers placing advertisements for their labor certification applications must draft them carefully to ensure they comply with the PERM regulations. 20 CFR 656.17(f)(7) states that ads may not contain terms and conditions of employment that are “less favorable than those offered to the alien.” However, the Department of Labor has also said that employers have the option of placing “broadly written advertisements with few details regarding job duties and requirements” (PERM FAQs, March 3, 2005). Between these statements is a puzzle for employers: Which terms and conditions may be omitted if the ads are to remain compliant?

News Release from Jewell & Associates, PC – September 20, 2011 In a recent post we discussed the BALCA decision In the Matter of The University of Texas at Brownsville, 2010-PER-00887. The Board held that the Certifying Officer was wrong to deny the...

In General Electric Company (GE Energy) 2010-PER-763 the employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification was accepted for filing by the Department of Labor on October 26, 2009. The employer had posted the job order on April 27—182 days before the filing date—and removed it on May 27. The Certifying Officer (CO) denied the application because the job order was placed more than 180 days before the application was filed, and the job order “must be conducted at least 30 days, but no more than 180 days, before the filing of the application” (20 CFR § 656.17(e)(1)(i)).

In the Matter of The University of Texas at Brownsville (2010-PER-00887), BALCA held that the Certifying Officer (“the CO”) abused his discretion when he denied the employer’s labor certification application on the basis that the national professional journal in which its advertisement was placed was only available electronically. While this may appear to end the Department of Labor’s requirement that such advertisements be in print, there are reasons to be cautious.

News Release from Jewell & Associates - July 17, 2007 We are delighted to report that the government has announced that it is withdrawing its July Visa Bulletin #108 and reverting to July Visa Bulletin #107, which makes all employment-based categories CURRENT for...

News Release from Jewell & Associates - July 2, 2007 As many readers are aware, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) published its July 2007 Visa Bulletin in mid-June, announcing that, for the month of July, all employment-based immigrant categories would be...