Where are we next month? The United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) has announced that for the September 2024 Visa Bulletin, applicants must use the Final Action Dates chart for employment-based preference...more
Filing a PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) application is a critical process for most U.S. employers seeking to hire foreign workers. One of the significant hurdles in this process is obtaining a Prevailing Wage...more
In light of prolonged Department of Labor (DOL) processing times and recent regulatory settlements involving the DOL and Department of Justice, employers are reevaluating their approaches to securing permanent residence...more
In early 2020, Alco Harvesting, LLC hired Jesus Guzman, a citizen of Mexico, to perform agricultural work in Santa Maria under the H-2A visa program. The H-2A visa program allows employers to hire foreign nationals to engage...more
On November 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it secured a landmark $25 million agreement with Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) to resolve allegations of discriminatory hiring and recruitment processes...more
As we discussed in a recent post, equal pay transparency (EPT) laws are on the rise across the country. While complex in their own right, EPT laws introduce new risks and challenges for employers undergoing an already...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have announced they will be collaborating and sharing information to improve their enforcement efforts....more
This is the second of the two-part series Navigating Changes to a Job Post-PERM Certification, which evaluates the impact a job change may have on an approved, certified PERM and during a foreign national’s green card...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: If Congress cannot resolve funding issues by 11:59 pm EST on September 30, 2023, resulting in a federal government shutdown, it will have a ripple effect on employers, both large and small, with an impact...more
This is the first of a two-part series on the three factors to consider when evaluating the possible impact a job change could have on a certified PERM labor certification and a foreign national’s green card process. ...more
On June 1, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) officially transitioned its online PERM labor certification filings from its legacy PERM portal to the FLAG System. In addition to announcing the PERM system transition, the DOL...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently shared some key takeaways regarding the new Form ETA9089. The new Form ETA9089 is created in the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) implemented by DOL on June 1, 2023. Some of...more
To hire a foreign worker on a permanent basis, the most common pathway for employers to sponsor an employee for a Green Card is through obtaining a permanent Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). This...more
Beginning on June 1, 2023, filers submitting PERM Applications for Permanent Employment Certification must submit the revised ETA-9089 in the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system, the U.S. Department of Labor’s...more
In April 2023, the long-anticipated new and modernized PERM Form 9089 was introduced to the public by the U.S. Department of Labor, Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) unit. The PERM process permits an employer to hire a...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has announced plans to revise the permanent labor certification (PERM) process in an effort to streamline the program, improve the employer...more
The federal government has announced that on May 11, 2023, it intends to permit the Public Health Emergency for COVID-19—declared more than three years ago—to expire. As we look back over the last few years, it is difficult...more
Over the past couple of years, multiple states have enacted pay transparency laws with the goal of increasing wage transparency for job seekers. The objective of these laws is ultimately to achieve pay equality as job...more
Employers know that U.S. immigration laws are complex, and the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) long processing delays – coupled with recent layoffs in the tech industry – have further complicated matters by adding new fact...more
As of November 1, 2022, most employers in New York City must comply with the City’s new pay transparency legislation. The legislation amends the N.Y. City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), requiring covered employers to include...more
Employers may already be aware of existing state and city laws regarding “pay transparency,” which require certain employers to publish “pay scales” in job advertisements. These pay transparency laws generally require that a...more
One of the most common types of employment-based green card sponsorships requires PERM labor certification. But do employers have to comply with applicable pay transparency laws when making their PERM recruitment efforts? At...more
States, municipalities, and other local regulatory entities continue to impose additional pay transparency requirements upon employers hiring in various jurisdictions throughout the United States. In some locations, employers...more
On December 14, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule that rescinds a previous DOL regulation implemented in January 2021. The January 2021 regulation would have led to a dramatic increase in prevailing...more
On October 19, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Justice (DOJ) settled with Facebook over its alleged discrimination against U.S. workers relating to the manner it conducted recruitment under the permanent...more