The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Tile Setter.”
After obtaining & examining an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification ordering the Employer to submit copies of its State Workforce Agency (SWA) job order. This included a copy of the job order placed with the SWA serving the area of intended employment downloaded from the SWA Internet job listing site, a copy of the job order provided by the SWA, or other proof of publication from the SWA containing the content of the job order. The Employer replied to the Audit by providing a photocopy of a completed “Employer Job Order Information Sheet” from VaEmploy.Com.
The CO denied the labor certification citing the Employer’s failure to provide proof of publication of the job order from the SWA containing the content of the job order. He believed the copy of the VaEmploy.Com sheet did not indicate the ultimate content of the SWA job order. In addition, the CO thought the “Order Information” sheet did not prove the SWA published the job order. He cited PERM regulation 20CFR 656.20(b) as the governing source of his denial. PERM regulations require “an employer filing for permanent labor certification to place a job order with the State Workforce Agency (SWA) serving the area of intended employment” for a period of 30 days.