|
On October 6, 2006,
Department of Labor (“DOL”)
published an important
regulation relating to
applications pending at
Backlog Elimination
Centers (“BEC”). Under
regulations in effect
prior to March 28, 2005,
most applications were
processed under a
“Traditional Method” (“TR”)
standard. Under this
process, employers’
recruitment was
supervised by the local
DOL offices in the
particular state of
filing. Lengthy
processing times were
commonplace. Some
applications were filed
using the
“Reduction-in-Recruitment”
(“RIR”) process. This
process allowed
employers to complete
its’ recruitment prior
to filing the labor
certification
application. This
process significantly
reduced processing times
for DOL offices.
In an effort to meet
their goal of
eliminating all pending
applications at the BECs
by September, 2007, this
new regulation will
allow employers to
request conversion of
any pending TR case to
an RIR case, with the
exception of any cases
at BEC where recruitment
(i.e., a job order) has
been initiated by the
BEC. DOL will process
RIR conversions using
the same process it
currently uses in the
backlog centers.
Our office will be
contacting all employers
who may have pending TR
applications at BECs to
discuss moving forward
with recruiting for
pending cases. Typical
recruiting for an RIR
case involves print ads,
an in-house posting, and
in some cases, web
advertising or other
sources normal to the
industry.
An RIR request is
generally submitted with
the following:
-
Copies of
advertisements
(for similar
positions at
the same
location)
placed in
newspapers,
journals and
other print
sources over
the past six
months,
which
include the
date of
publication
and name of
the
publication.
-
Copy of the
mandatory
in-house
posting
-
Copies of
advertisements
placed on
the
internet.
-
Statement of
other
recruitment
efforts over
the past six
months,
including
participation
in job
fairs, use
of
recruiters,
and other
sources
normal to
this
occupation.
-
Statement
concerning
normal
recruitment
practices
for this
industry and
occupation.
-
Statement
that no US
workers
responded
who were
able,
willing, and
qualified
for the job
opportunity.
After all
recruitment
efforts are
completed, the
RIR request can
be submitted to
the BEC. They
will conduct a
wage survey to
insure that the
wage offer
equals or
exceeds the
prevailing wage
for similar
positions. If
the Application
appears to be in
order and the
wages offered
are sufficient,
it is suggested
that processing
time to final
approval may be
significantly
reduced.
|
|
