BIB Every day presents bimonthly PERM observe suggestions from Ron Wada, member of the Editorial Board for Bender’s Immigration Bulletin and writer of the ten+ 12 months collection of BALCA evaluation articles, “Shaping the Way forward for PERM.” Questions or feedback could also be despatched to Ron at ron.wada@tandslaw.com. Copyright 2024 Ron Wada, All Rights Reserved.
Methods to describe journey necessities for roving staff on the DOL Type ETA 9141 Software for Prevailing Wage Dedication – Jobs that aren’t carried out at a set worksite can current a headache when making ready a PERM utility if the journey necessities usually are not expressed in a manner that DOL will perceive and settle for. The Software for Prevailing Wage Dedication (Type 9141) explicitly requests at F.d.3:
“Will journey be required with the intention to carry out the job duties?
- If “Sure” present geographic location and frequency of the journey.”
Journey necessities should be disclosed in recruitment advertisements and on PERM functions, but DOL has provided solely minimal steerage on how an applicant ought to specific journey necessities, or why the company believes {that a} description of journey necessities is related to figuring out the prevailing wage for any given occupation. In reality, as acknowledged by BALCA the rules governing prevailing wage determinations don’t point out journey, so there aren’t any relevant guidelines! The one steerage issued on this subject by DOL is the 1994 Barbara Farmer Memo, and over the 30-year interval for the reason that Farmer Memo was issued, DOL has repeatedly referred again to it, stretching its phrases to cowl a wide range of travel-related issues not initially envisioned together with the fashionable creation of telecommuting.
Given the restrictions of a web-based kind, the necessity for economic system of expression in recruitment promoting, a easy format for expressing journey necessities that addresses location and frequency of journey is required. For instance, “journey required to unanticipated places all through the U.S. as much as 3 days per week” is a compact phrase that addresses each location and frequency of journey. The absence of clarifying steerage from DOL implies that attorneys haven’t any selection however to proceed on a trial-and-error foundation till patterns emerge as to what DOL will and won’t settle for in particular circumstances. What’s vital to notice is that the Type 9141 clearly alerts that at least DOL requires data on each geographic location and frequency of journey.
For extra data, see:
- Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Field, “ETA 9089 and 9141: Siblings or Twins?,” lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/eta-9089-and-9141-siblings-or-twins, Mar. 25, 2024.
- Ron Wada, “Shaping the Way forward for PERM – Observe on Journey Necessities, Prevailing Wage, and the New 9089,” 29 Bender’s Immigr. Bull. 87 (Jan. 15, 2024)
- “DOL Coverage Steerage on Alien Labor Certification Points,” DOL Subject Memorandum No. 48-94 [a.k.a., The Farmer Memo], AILA Doc. No. 94052390, posted 5/16/94.
COPYRIGHT 2024 RON WADA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
