Originally posted by sel
The national Foreign Labor Certification Division of DOL requested a meeting
with AILA representatives in Region VI to provide ideas for a solution to
the mass RIR remand crisis in Region VI along with solutions to processing a
large number of cases with a diminishing budget.
Bill Carlson (Chief, Foreign Labor Certification Unit) and Harry Sheinfeld
(Litigation Counsel, Employment and Training Legal Services) of the DOL
national office went to San Francisco to meet with Region VI Certifying
Officer Martin Rios and his staff. Mr. Carlson and Mr. Sheinfeld also asked
to meet with AILA representatives to discuss the issues. This meeting took
place on July 16, 2003. On the AILA side, the meeting was attended by
national AILA/DOL committee members in Region VI, Crystal Williams, Fran
Berger, and the California chapters' AILA/DOL liaison chairs. Warren Leiden
and Martin Lawler also attended at the request of DOL. Some AILA
representatives attended via telephone. On the DOL side, Mr. Carlson and Mr.
Sheinfeld attended along with Regional Administrator Armando Quiroz
(Regional Administrator for Region VI) and John Humphrey (Regional Director,
Pacific-Western Region).
The meeting was held at Norman Plotkin's office at Jackson and Hertogs. Mr.
Carlson said that he recognized that DOL has a management problem and
requested AILA's constructive ideas for resolving the issues. AILA
representatives spoke about the seriousness, costs, unfairness, delay,
inefficiency, and questionable legality of the current policy of mass
remands of RIR cases. After much discussion, the AILA reps prepared a
written summary of the proposals and gave it to DOL. The proposals include:
(a) an immediate freeze on RIR remands until a resolution is reached on
processing criteria;
(b) for cases currently pending at DOL:
· DOL would adjudicate non-entry level positions according to
standards that existed at the time of filing;
· if a job appears to be entry level, DOL would offer the employer an
opportunity to provide supplemental evidence showing the position's true
duties and requirements;
· if specific recruitment evidence exists, the employer could provide
such information;
· if specific recruitment evidence does not exist, the employer would
be permitted to retest the market with the specific position requirement;
· for cases already remanded to the SWA, employers may request
reconsideration and re-adjudication based on the above standards.
This of course was AILA's proposal - the DOL took it and has not agreed to
anything yet. However, the fact that Mr. Carlson and Mr. Sheinfeld traveled
to San Francisco and the fact that they solicited AILA's constructive ideas
are positive indications that they are taking our concerns seriously and are
moving rapidly to address them.
