DOL Guidance on Labor Certifications and Hurricanes
Posted Dec 16, 2005
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance on December 8, 2005 regarding accommodations to be made to labor certification cases affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. This guidance, outlined below, overrides any prior guidance. The guidance and procedures are intended to minimize the impact of the hurricanes upon pending labor certification cases.
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Mail Held in Certain Areas - Need Address Updates
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Mail delivery was suspended in portions of the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Many businesses, including law firms, were destroyed. Until further notice, therefore, the PERM National Processing Centers (NPCs) and the Backlog Processing Centers (BPCs), as well as their satellite offices, will stop sending mail to zip codes where there is no mail service. Information regarding the affected zip codes can be found on the U.S. Postal Service WebSite.
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The DOL Division of Foreign Labor Certification (DFLC) normally sends copies of correspondence about labor certifications to the employers as well as the attorneys of record. They will continue to process all cases, to the extent that this is possible. They will, however, hold all mail in cases where one of the recipients (employer or attorney) is in an area where mail delivery has been interrupted. They will do so until the employer and/or attorney provides updated address information.
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Updating Addresses
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The DFLC has established an eMail system for employers and attorneys in the hurricane-impacted areas to provide new contact information. The eMail addresses are listed in the Federal Register Notice. Many employers and attorneys have relocated, either temporarily or permanently, and need to update their data in order to receive this mail.
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The subject line of the eMail needs to name the hurricane/s that impacted the application. The correspondence needs to include the new mailing address, any new telephone and fax information, and information sufficient to identify each application, including the case numbers for the applications. Under this system, therefore, globally changing the information is not possible. This leaves questions as to how an attorney or employer whose records are not intact would be able to provide the information on each file.
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Updated addresses will be for mailing purposes only and will not amend a pending application.
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Deadline Response Dates Extended
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The DFLC is extending certain deadlines in those labor certification cases where either the employer or the employer's attorney are located in a Katrina-, Rita-, or Wilma-disaster area. These affected areas are designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and are listed on the FEMA WebSite. These deadline extensions apply ONLY to cases with employers or attorneys in the impacted areas. All others must comply with all legal deadlines.
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The affected deadlines are: employer responses to 45-day (continuation) letters; BPC-issued Notices of Findings; National Processing Center (NPC)-issued audit requests; NPC requests for additional information; and employer appeals.
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There are specific extension dates for each hurricane, as follows. These extended deadlines apply even if the employer or attorney has relocated outside of the disaster area.

• Hurricane Katrina : for deadlines that fell between August 29, 2005 and December 1, 2005, the submission will be considered timely if received by the appropriate NPC by December 1, 2005.

• Hurricane Rita : for deadlines between September 23, 2005 and January 1, 2006, the response will be timely if submitted to the appropriate NPC by January 1, 2006.

• Hurricane Wilma : for deadlines between October 24, 2005 and February 1, 2006, the response will be timely if submitted to the appropriate NPC by February 1, 2006.

PERM Extensions
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DFLC is extending the validity period of recruitment efforts for PERM applications impacted by Hurricane/s Katrina, Rita, or Wilma. PERM regulations require that recruitment efforts must start within the 180 days prior to filing the PERM case, and must be completed at least 30 days prior to filing the case. The hurricanes have interfered with this process. Therefore, the recruitment validity periods are being extended for employers and attorneys located within the FEMA-designated disaster areas. The requirement for affected employers and attorneys is that the cases must be filed by the 75th day after the date of the last hurricane (Wilma), if the recruitment started within 180 days prior to the specific hurricane involved.
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Eligibility is based upon the date of the hurricane and the date that recruitment started, as follows. Cases filed under these procedures must include an employer cover letter explaining the circumstances. The requirement of completing recruitment 30 days prior to filing remains effective.

Conclusion
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The DOL announcement states that they will continue to revisit the hurricane issues. No one, however, should expect further deadline extensions. Cases should be filed at the earliest. The DOL is trying to accommodate those employers and attorneys and, in turn, their employees and clients who were affected by these hurricanes. These accommodations should provide the affected cases some respite at this trying time.