Labor Cert News: Atlanta NPC No Longer Forwarding to BALCA All PERM Requests for Reconsideration; Statistical Updates for FY 2014 Q4; H-1B Legacy Docs No Longer Available

The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) recently announced the following news:

Atlanta NPC change in process. As of October 27, 2014, the Atlanta National Processing Center is no longer automatically forwarding to the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) all PERM Requests for Reconsideration where the original case decision was upheld. Rather, a Notice of Decision will be issued when the case is upheld, and the employer must affirmatively request review before BALCA no later than 30 calendar days after the date the Notice of Decision is issued.

The announcement is available at http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/.

Statistical updates for FY 2014 Q4. OFLC has issued updated program fact sheets with selected statistics for the permanent labor certification program, prevailing wage determination program, H-1B temporary visa program, H-2A temporary agricultural visa program, and H-2B temporary nonagricultural visa program. Reports were derived from program data as of September 30, 2014. The updated fact sheets are available at http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#stat.

H-1B legacy records no longer available. On July 8, 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved OFLC’s revised retention schedule following a 30-day period of public notice and review. NARA determined that employer applications for labor certification and supporting documentation, whether retained in paper or electronic form, are temporary records and subject to destruction. The OFLC-approved disposition schedule authorizes the retention of records for five years after the date a final determination letter is issued or final action occurs, such as a withdrawn application, subject to an active investigation or litigation hold.

The records NARA identified as permanent records are the annual disclosure data files at http://www.flcdatacenter.com, as well as the quarterly disclosure data files and the OFLC Annual Reports on the OFLC Performance page at http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm.

Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) retained in the LCA Online System are all beyond the retention period of five years from a date of final determination or final action. Therefore, effective October 17, 2014, the LCA Online System at has been decommissioned.

The OFLC said it is no longer responding to inquiries to search for records in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, or providing information for requests for duplicate certifications for LCA applications processed in the LCA Online System, in keeping with the OFLC records schedule.