Updates from Department of Labor

On March 25, 2010, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) held a stakeholders telephone conference to discuss DOL operations generally, and address PERM, iCERT prevailing wage and other specific areas.  We are happy to share some interesting pieces of information from DOL.

PERM Processing.  With respect to PERM processing, DOL has made efforts to decrease its PERM backlogs and try to reduce processing times to 8-9 months.  DOL is temporarily assigning PERM applications to adjudicators in Washington, DC, Chicago and to additional staff in Atlanta.  As a result, significant PERM processing time improvements are expected.  Our office has received recent PERM applications certified 7 months after filing.

PERM Recruiting.  DOL indicated that they do not expect a change in the pre-filing PERM requirement of advertising in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of intended employment.   The concern is that few employees seek employment in newspapers as the Internet has almost entirely replaced newspapers in this regard and also that some geographic areas simply do not have a Sunday newspaper of general circulation.  Despite these concerns, DOL has no plans to eliminate the Sunday recruitment requirement.

iCert Prevailing Wage.  Starting January 1, 2010, the iCert system is the exclusive system for requesting prevailing wage determinations which were previously handled by the State Workforce Agencies.  We have reported previously on the long iCert prevailing wage processing times.  In response to concerns about the long prevailing wage processing times, DOL has reiterated that it has previously warned employers that a 60-day processing window should be expected and planned for.  Although DOL indicated that they will try to add more resources to the prevailing wage review process, they expect that the prevailing wage determinations will take up to 60 days.  Requests pending for more than 60 days should be reported to DOL.